MMS Fast Plasma Investigation: Burst Mode Ion Distributions

The Fast Plasma Investigation (FPI) instrument on the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission collects plasma data in the mission's region of interest. This Level 2 product contains corrected 'Burst Sky Map' phase space distribution maps at high temporal resolution, selected for downlink from the spacecraft. The data is produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Use Cases

• Analyzing plasma dynamics based on high-resolution burst mode distributions.
• Studying ion phase space distributions based on corrected 'Burst Sky Map' data.
• Investigating magnetospheric phenomena based on data from the MMS mission's region of interest.
• Validating plasma models based on instrument-corrected distribution maps.

Strengths

• Data is corrected and converted for 'highest possible quality at the time of release' as stated.
• Provides high temporal resolution data at burst mode (0.15 seconds for DIS).
• Originates from the NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale mission.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Not all burst resolution data are downlinked per mission design.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data collected by the Fast Plasma Investigation (FPI) instrument on the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 09:22:42.004761; freshness should be verified.