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Stawman Payload Magnetometer Plasma and Radio Wave Sensor Solar Wind/Interstellar Plasma/Electron Spectrometer Pickup and Interstellar Ion Isotope Spectrometer Interstellar Neutral Atom Spectrometer Suprathermal Ion/Electron Sensor Cosmic Ray H, He, Electron, Positron, Gamma-Ray Burst Instrument Anomalous & Galactic Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer Dust Composition Instrument Infrared Instrument Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) Imager UV Photometer
Additional Candidates Kuiper Belt Object Detector New Concept Molecular Analyzer Suprathermal Ion Charge-State Instrument Cosmic Ray Antiproton Detector
Resource Requirements
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Mission Requirements: To accomplish its science objectives, Interstellar Probe should acquire data out to a distance of at least 200
AU, with a goal of reaching ~400 AU. The trajectory should aim for the nose of the heliosphere, the shortest route to the interstellar
medium. The average science data rate should be 25 bps at 200 AU; a lower data rate is acceptable at greater distances. A spinning
spacecraft is required to enable the in situ instruments to scan the particle, plasma, and magnetic field distributions and to permit the
remote-sensing instruments to scan the sky.
Strawman Payload: The strawman scientific payload includes an advanced suite of miniaturized, low-power instruments specifically designed for comprehensive studies of the plasma, energetic particles, fields, and dust in the outer heliosphere and nearby interstellar medium. The composition and energy spectra of plasma, energetic particles, and cosmic rays would be measured over six decades in energy/nucleon, including elements from H to Ni. The composition of dust grains and interstellar neutral atoms would also be measured. Infrared, energetic neutral atom, and UV images would be obtained over a swath of the sky as the spacecraft spins and transits to >200 AU. These instruments have capabilities that are generally far superior to those of the Voyagers. The strawman payload requires ~25 kg and ~20 watts of power. Although most of these instruments have considerable flight heritage and could be built today, to achieve the required capabilities within the very restrictive weight and power resources will require the development of miniaturized, low-power instrumentation. Among the instruments that could also be flown on this mission if resources permit are: (1) a telescope to survey the population of small Kuiper Belt objects; (2) an instrument to identify organic molecular species; (3) an instrument to measure the charge states (and from this the origin) of suprathermal ions; and (4) an instrument to identify low-energy antiprotons that may originate in primordial black holes, or in the annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) that may comprise the unobserved dark matter in our galaxy. |
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Introduction
Interstellar Medium
Interaction Between the Interstellar Medium and the Solar Wind
The Outer Solar System
Scientific Instruments and Mission Requirements
Acknowledgments
Table of Contents
For more information regarding this website
and the Interstellar Probe Project,
please contact Dr. Paulett Liewer
This site was last updated:
February 8, 2000.
