MMS HPCA: Magnetospheric Ion Composition Measurements

The Hot Plasma Composition Analyzer instruments on the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission measure ion energy and composition. The Level 2 burst mode data provides counts for five ion species across 63 energy levels and 16 azimuths, collected every 10 seconds. This dataset is produced by NASA.

Use Cases

• Analyze magnetospheric plasma composition based on counts for protons, alpha particles, helium ions, and singly charged oxygen.
• Study ion energy distributions across the 1 eV to 40 keV range.
• Model plasma dynamics using data collected at a 10-second cadence.
• Compare ion species behavior across the 16 elevation anodes and azimuths.

Strengths

• Data covers five distinct ion species: H+, He++, He+, O+, and background counts.
• Energy measurements span a defined range from 1 eV to 40 keV.
• Data acquisition occurs at a regular 10-second interval.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measured by the Hot Plasma Composition Analyzer instruments on the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 09:17:04.908041; freshness should be verified.