DE 2 RPA: Ion Plasma Parameters from Satellite at 16ms Resolution

DE 2 Retarding Potential Analyzer data provides ion plasma parameters at 16-millisecond resolution. The dataset includes ion drift velocity, temperature, and densities of O+, H+, He+, molecular, and high mass ions. NASA collected this data over the 18-month lifetime of the DE 2 satellite, with a noted gap from late 1981 to early 1982.

Use Cases

• Modeling ionospheric plasma composition based on specified ion density measurements.
• Analyzing ion temperature and drift velocity dynamics at high temporal resolution.
• Studying temporal variations in plasma parameters over an 18-month satellite mission.
• Correlating specific ion species (O+, H+, He+) densities with solar activity.

Strengths

• Data is captured at a high 16-millisecond temporal resolution.
• Covers the 18-month operational lifetime of the DE 2 satellite mission.
• Provides multiple specific ion species densities (O+, H+, He+, molecular, high mass).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Contains a documented data gap from 1981/317 to 1982/041.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Measured by the Retarding Potential Analyzer (RPA) instrument on the DE 2 satellite.

Time Range

Spanning the 18-month DE 2 satellite lifetime, with a gap from 1981/317 to 1982/041.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 07:24:47.807834; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage from satellite orbit.