New Horizons SWAP: Solar Wind and Pickup Ion Data from Pluto Mission

Version 2.0 of this dataset adds interstellar pickup ion density, temperature, and pressure to its solar wind measurements. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration provides derived data from the New Horizons Solar Wind Around Pluto instrument, including proton density, speed, temperature, and dynamic pressure. Solar wind data spans the spacecraft's cruise phase, Pluto encounter, and post-encounter periods.

Use Cases

• Modeling solar wind propagation in the outer solar system based on proton density and speed data.
• Analyzing interstellar pickup ion interactions based on provided density, temperature, and pressure.
• Studying the dynamic pressure of the solar wind on spacecraft trajectories based on derived proton pressure.
• Investigating temporal variations in solar wind parameters during the Pluto encounter and cruise phases.

Strengths

• Data is from a specific NASA instrument, the New Horizons Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP).
• Version 2.0 adds new pickup ion data and additional solar wind data.
• Solar wind data covers multiple mission phases: cruise, Pluto encounter, and post-encounter.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• 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

Derived from observations by the New Horizons Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument.

Time Range

Covers cruise, Pluto encounter (excluding inside the Pluto system), and post-encounter periods.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 13:39:13.585754; freshness should be verified

Geography

Spatial coverage is along the New Horizons spacecraft trajectory through the solar system.