ROSETTA-ORBITER 67P: Ion Density and Velocity Measurements from RPCICA

DERIVED MOMENT data from the RPCICA instrument on the Rosetta spacecraft captures the solar wind's interaction with comet 67P's atmosphere. The dataset contains ion density and bulk velocity measurements for masses 1, 2, 4, and 18 amu/e, collected during the mission's first extension period. NASA published this data, which was last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling solar wind interaction with a cometary atmosphere based on derived ion density and velocity data.
• Analyzing plasma composition dynamics based on measurements for specific ion masses (1, 2, 4, 18 amu/e).
• Studying temporal variations in cometary ionospheric parameters during the Rosetta mission's extension phase.

Strengths

• Data originates from a dedicated space mission instrument (RPCICA) operated by NASA.
• Measurements target specific ion masses (1, 2, 4, 18 amu/e), providing compositional detail.
• Last updated on 2026-03-13, indicating recent metadata maintenance.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Measurements from the RPCICA instrument on the Rosetta orbiter spacecraft.

Time Range

Temporal coverage corresponds to 'Rosetta extension 1'.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 08:01:06.519872; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Data collected in proximity to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.