MMS HPCA: Magnetospheric Plasma Ion Composition and Energy, 10-Second Survey Data

Five ion species—protons, alpha particles, helium ions, singly charged oxygen, and background counts—are measured by NASA's MMS spacecraft instruments. The Hot Plasma Composition Analyzer (HPCA) captures energy and composition data for magnetospheric plasmas from 1 eV to 40 keV. Data is structured as arrays of counts across 63 energies and 16 elevation anodes, acquired every 10 seconds.

Use Cases

• Modeling magnetospheric plasma dynamics based on multi-species ion composition data.
• Analyzing energy distribution of space plasmas based on measurements across 63 energy levels.
• Studying ion behavior during spacecraft spins based on data acquired across 16 azimuths per 10-second interval.
• Calibrating or validating space weather simulations based on proton (H+) and oxygen (O+) ion counts.

Strengths

• Data covers five distinct ion species, enabling detailed composition analysis.
• Measurements are taken across a wide energy range from 1 eV to 40 keV.
• Temporal resolution is high, with data points acquired every 10 seconds.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is stored in a BIN format, requiring specialized tools for access and parsing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the Hot Plasma Composition Analyzer (HPCA) instruments on the MMS spacecraft.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 06:20:44.498543; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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