ROSETTA-ORBITER: Comet 67P Plasma Data from RPC-LAP Instrument

NASA's ROSETTA-ORBITER 67P RPCLAP 5EXT1 DERIV2 V1.0 dataset contains derived high-level data products from the Rosetta spacecraft's RPC-LAP instrument. The data was acquired during the ROSETTA EXTENSION 1 mission phase, with the primary target being comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It includes physical unit measurements such as electron density, electron temperature, spacecraft potential, and downsampled time series of current and voltage.

Use Cases

• Modeling cometary plasma density and temperature based on derived electron density and temperature data.
• Analyzing spacecraft charging effects based on spacecraft potential measurements.
• Studying temporal plasma variations around comet 67P based on downsampled current and voltage time series.

Strengths

• Data is derived into high-level physical units, potentially reducing preprocessing effort.
• Source is the authoritative NASA Rosetta mission.
• Focuses on a specific, scientifically significant target: comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

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

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Derived from measurements by the RPC-LAP instrument on the Rosetta spacecraft.

Time Range

Acquired during the ROSETTA EXTENSION 1 mission phase.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 11:44:30.564218; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Space; primary target is comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.