Premium
Spacecraft and Instrument Photoelectrons Measured by the Dual Electron Spectrometers on MMS
Author(s) -
Gershman Daniel J.,
Avanov Levon A.,
Boardsen Scott A.,
Dorelli John C.,
Gliese Ulrik,
Barrie Alexander C.,
Schiff Conrad,
Paterson William R.,
Torbert Roy B.,
Giles Barbara L.,
Pollock Craig J.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1002/2017ja024518
Subject(s) - spacecraft , spacecraft charging , photoelectric effect , spectrometer , electron , physics , electron spectrometer , computational physics , atomic physics , aerospace engineering , optics , astronomy , cathode ray , nuclear physics , engineering
Secondary electrons are continuously generated via photoemission from sunlit spacecraft and instrument surfaces. These particles can subsequently contaminate low‐energy channels of electron sensors. Spacecraft photoelectrons are measured at energies below that of a positive spacecraft potential and can be removed at the expense of energy resolution. However, fluxes of photoelectrons generated inside electron instruments are independent of spacecraft potential and must be fully characterized in order to correct electron data. Here we present observations of spacecraft and instrument photoelectron populations measured with the Dual Electron Spectrometers (DES) on NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. We leverage observations from Earth's nightside plasma sheet taken during MMS commissioning and develop an empirical model of instrument photoelectrons. This model is used with DES velocity distribution functions to correct plasma moments and has been made publicly available on the MMS science data center for use by the scientific community.