Heavy Ions: A Critical Measurement for Understanding the Solar Wind/Ionosphere/Magnetosphere
Whitepaper #106 in the Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics (Heliophysics) 2024-2033. Main topics: basic research. Additional topics: system science; user-need-driven basic space weather research.
by Philip Fernandes, Raluca Ilie, Carlos Maldonado, Gian Luca Delzanno, Michael Denton, Michael Henderson, Vania Jordanova, Thomas Kim, Brian Larsen, Geoffrey Reeves, Daniel Reisenfeld, Ruth Skoug, John Steinberg, and Gabriel Wilson
Published onJul 31, 2023
Heavy Ions: A Critical Measurement for Understanding the Solar Wind/Ionosphere/Magnetosphere
The typical on-orbit mass spectrometer is limited in mass resolution capability, such that it cannot distinguish N+ from O+ by design. We propose a community goal of characterizing the full complement of plasma species (composition and charge state) within the Solar Wind/Magnetosphere/Ionosphere system to understand how these populations interact with one another and impact the system as a whole.
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0)
