Earth and Planetary Physics (Jan 2022)
Tianwen-1 MINPA observations in the solar wind
- AiBing Zhang,
- LingGao Kong,
- WenYa Li,
- Lei Li,
- BinBin Tang,
- ZhaoJin Rong,
- Yong Wei,
- JiJie Ma,
- YiTeng Zhang,
- LiangHai Xie,
- YuXian Wang,
- JianSen He,
- Bin Liu,
- WenJing Wang,
- Bin Su,
- JiaWei Li,
- Xu Tan,
- Fang Wang,
- TaiFeng Jin,
- FuHao Qiao,
- Peter Wurz,
- Yan Zhu,
- YunFei Bai,
- YiRen Li,
- XinBo Zhu,
- YueQiang Sun,
- YongLiao Zou,
- Chi Wang
Affiliations
- AiBing Zhang
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- LingGao Kong
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- WenYa Li
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- Lei Li
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- BinBin Tang
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- ZhaoJin Rong
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Yong Wei
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- JiJie Ma
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- YiTeng Zhang
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- LiangHai Xie
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- YuXian Wang
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- JianSen He
- Institute of Space Physics and Applied Technology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Bin Liu
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- WenJing Wang
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- Bin Su
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- JiaWei Li
- Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center, Beijing 100190, China
- Xu Tan
- National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
- Fang Wang
- National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
- TaiFeng Jin
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- FuHao Qiao
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- Peter Wurz
- Physics Institute, University of Bern, Bern 3012, Switzerland
- Yan Zhu
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- YunFei Bai
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- YiRen Li
- University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
- XinBo Zhu
- Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, Shanghai 201109, China
- YueQiang Sun
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- YongLiao Zou
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- Chi Wang
- National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.26464/epp2022014
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 6,
no. 1
pp. 1 – 9
Abstract
The Mars Ion and Neutral Particle Analyzer (MINPA) is one of the three scientific instruments onboard the Tianwen-1 orbiter to investigate the Martian space environment. During Tianwen-1’s transfer orbit to Mars, the MINPA was switched on to measure the solar wind ions. Here, we present the first results of the MINPA observations in the solar wind. During cruise, nearly half of the MINPA ion field-of-view (FOV) was blocked by the lander capsule; thus only the solar-wind ions with azimuthal speeds pointing towards the unblocked FOV sectors could be detected. We perform a detailed comparison of the MINPA’s solar wind observations with data from Earth-based missions when MINPA reached its count-rate peak, finding a general consistency of the ion moments between them. The blocking effect due to the lander is evaluated quantitatively under varying solar-wind velocity conditions. Despite the blocking effect, the MINPA’s solar wind measurements during the transfer orbit suggest a good performance.
Keywords
