Abstract
The Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) comprises the hardware and accompanying science investigation on the New Horizons spacecraft to measure pick-up ions from Pluto’s outgassing atmosphere. To the extent that Pluto retains its characteristics similar to those of a “heavy comet” as detected in stellar occultations since the early 1980s, these measurements will characterize the neutral atmosphere of Pluto while providing a consistency check on the atmospheric escape rate at the encounter epoch with that deduced from the atmospheric structure at lower altitudes by the ALICE, REX, and SWAP experiments on New Horizons. In addition, PEPSSI will characterize any extended ionosphere and solar wind interaction while also characterizing the energetic particle environment of Pluto, Charon, and their associated system. First proposed for development for the Pluto Express mission in September 1993, what became the PEPSSI instrument went through a number of development stages to meet the requirements of such an instrument for a mission to Pluto while minimizing the required spacecraft resources. The PEPSSI instrument provides for measurements of ions (with compositional information) and electrons from 10 s of keV to ∼1 MeV in a 160°×12° fan-shaped beam in six sectors for 1.5 kg and ∼2.5 W.
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Abbreviations
- 1PPS:
-
One Pulse Per Second
- ADC:
-
Analog-to-digital converter
- APL:
-
Applied Physics Laboratory
- ASIC:
-
Application specific integrated circuit
- C&DH:
-
Command and Data Handling
- CCSDS:
-
Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems
- CFD:
-
Constant Fraction Discriminator
- CSA:
-
Charge Sensitive Amplifier
- eV:
-
Electron Volt
- FITS:
-
Flexible Image Transport System
- FOV:
-
Field of View
- FWHM:
-
Full Width Half Maximum
- GSE:
-
Ground support equipment
- GSFC:
-
Goddard Space Flight Center
- HDU:
-
Header Data Unit
- HV:
-
High Voltage Section of HVPS
- HVPS:
-
High Voltage Power Supply (HV and Bias Supply Sections)
- IEM:
-
Integrated Electronics Module
- IGSE:
-
Instrument Ground Support Equipment
- ICD:
-
Interface Control Document
- ITF:
-
Instrument Transfer Frame
- LED:
-
Leading Edge Discriminator
- MCP:
-
Micro-channel plate
- MIDL:
-
Mission Independent Data Layer
- MDM:
-
Master Data Manager
- MET:
-
Mission Elapsed Time
- MOI:
-
Moment of inertia
- NA:
-
Not applicable
- NASA:
-
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- NH:
-
New Horizons
- ns:
-
nanosecond=10−9 s
- PDS:
-
Planetary Data System
- PEPSSI:
-
Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation
- PFF:
-
Pluto Fast Flyby
- PHA:
-
Pulse height analysis
- PIDDP:
-
Planetary Instrument Definition and Development Program
- ps:
-
picosecond=10−12 s
- psi:
-
Pounds per square inch
- RTG:
-
Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator
- SQL:
-
Structured Query Language
- SSD:
-
Solid-state detector
- SSR:
-
Solid-state recorder
- STP:
-
Supplemented Telemetry Packet
- SwRI:
-
Southwest Research Institute
- TDC:
-
Time-to-digital chip
- TOF:
-
Time of flight
- TRIO:
-
Temperature remote input/output
- T-V:
-
Thermal-vacuum
- UART:
-
Universal asynchronous receive and transmit
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E.P. Keath, B. Tossman, W. Bradley, and P. Wilson IV are retired.
An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11214-009-9534-5
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McNutt, R.L., Livi, S.A., Gurnee, R.S. et al. The Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation (PEPSSI) on the New Horizons Mission. Space Sci Rev 140, 315–385 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-008-9436-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-008-9436-y