Flying through the plasmasphere to optimize low-energy ion measurements

The Juice flyby of Earth in August 2024 gave us the first chance to evaluate the performance of the Jovian Plasma Dynamics and Composition analyzer (JDC) in environments similar to those expected at Jupiter. JDC is one of the sensors belonging to the Particle Environment Package (PEP) on the Juice spacecraft. It measures positive and negative ions as well as electrons in the energy range 1 eV q −1 to 35 keV q −1 . One of the most challenging observations at the final destination is the one of the low-energy ion populations in the tenuous ionospheres of Jupiter's icy moons. During the Juice flyby of Earth we discovered that the energies of the positive ions observed by JDC were not easy to interpret due to a problem with the energy sweep. Using measurements made on ground, we were able to reconstruct the observed energies and construct a new sweeping scheme that solves the problem and that will greatly improve future observations. We also used a simulation to explain the effects of the spacecraft velocity and spacecraft potential on the recorded positive ion fluxes when Juice passed through the Earth's plasmasphere. The study highlights the importance of in-flight calibrations for optimizing the scientific return. Planetary flybys give access to multiple low-energy particle populations besides the mono-energetic and highly directional solar wind.

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Journal
Annales Geophysicae
Published
2026-09-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-44-937-2026
Primary Topic
Astro and Planetary Science
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Flying through the plasmasphere to optimize low-energy ion measurements

Gabriella Stenberg Wieser, A. Opitz, P. Kollmann, N. Krupp et al.
Annales Geophysicae
Astro and Planetary Science
article

Flying through the plasmasphere to optimize low-energy ion measurements

Gabriella Stenberg Wieser, A. Opitz, P. Kollmann, N. Krupp, A. Fedorov, M. Grandé, Donald G. Mitchell, Leonardo Regoli, P. C. Brandt, E. Kallio, Philipp Wittmann, Andreas Riedo, Kazushi Asamura, Yoshifumi Futaana, Martin Wieser, G. C. Ho, M. Fräenz, R. F. Wimmer‐Schweingruber, J. Baláž, Leif Kalla, André Galli, Manabu Shimoyama, P. Wurz, Jan‐Erik Wahlund, G. H. Jones, E. Roussos, Malamati Gkioulidou, Theodoros Sarris, Angele Pontoni, George Clark, Audrey Vorburger, Andrew Coates, Stas Barabash, Nicolas André
article en

Abstract

The Juice flyby of Earth in August 2024 gave us the first chance to evaluate the performance of the Jovian Plasma Dynamics and Composition analyzer (JDC) in environments similar to those expected at Jupiter. JDC is one of the sensors belonging to the Particle Environment Package (PEP) on the Juice spacecraft. It measures positive and negative ions as well as electrons in the energy range 1 eV q −1 to 35 keV q −1 . One of the most challenging observations at the final destination is the one of the low-energy ion populations in the tenuous ionospheres of Jupiter's icy moons. During the Juice flyby of Earth we discovered that the energies of the positive ions observed by JDC were not easy to interpret due to a problem with the energy sweep. Using measurements made on ground, we were able to reconstruct the observed energies and construct a new sweeping scheme that solves the problem and that will greatly improve future observations. We also used a simulation to explain the effects of the spacecraft velocity and spacecraft potential on the recorded positive ion fluxes when Juice passed through the Earth's plasmasphere. The study highlights the importance of in-flight calibrations for optimizing the scientific return. Planetary flybys give access to multiple low-energy particle populations besides the mono-energetic and highly directional solar wind.

Annales GeophysicaeVol. 44(2)
University of Bern (CH), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Swedish Institute of Space Physics (SE), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR), Johns Hopkins University (US), Democritus University of Thrace (GR), Aberystwyth University (GB), Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR), Institut Superieur de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO) (FR), Department of Space (IN), Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE), Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics (HU), Institute of Experimental Physics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (DE), HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics (HU), Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (JP), Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (FR), International Space Science Institute (CH), Aalto University (FI)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Swedish National Space Agency, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
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