Pioneer 10: Hourly Averaged Solar Wind Plasma Parameters

Version 3.1 final archival set of hourly averaged solar wind data from the Pioneer 10 mission's Plasma Analyzer. The dataset includes plasma bulk parameters such as bulk velocity, proton number density, proton temperature, and flow angles. It is provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and corresponds to NSSDC ID SPHE-00066 or 72-012A-13L.

Use Cases

• Modeling solar wind propagation based on bulk velocity and flow angles.
• Analyzing plasma density variations based on proton number density.
• Studying plasma thermal properties based on proton temperature.
• Correlating solar wind parameters with other space weather datasets.

Strengths

• Data is a final archival version (Version 3.1), indicating a processed and validated state.
• Includes key solar wind parameters: bulk velocity, proton number density, proton temperature, and flow angles.
• Data is hourly averaged, providing a consistent temporal resolution.

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 binary format (BIN), requiring specialized tools for access.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Data gathered by the Plasma Analyzer instrument on the Pioneer 10 spacecraft.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 05:40:03.580794; freshness should be verified.