Electron Density Measurement on JUICE Mission by Mutual Impedance Technique: MIME Instrument as a Part of RPWI Consortium

Jean-Louis Rauch (1) , P. Henri (1) , J. E. Wahlund , O. Le Duff (1) , O. Sene (1) , F. Colin (1) , D. Lagoutte (1) , N. Gilet (1) , L. Ahlen , J. Bergman , R. Gill , W. Puccio

1 LPC2E - Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace

Mutual Impedance MEasurements (MIME) instrument is a part of the Radio Wave Plasma Investigation (RPWI) consortium which has been selected by European Space Agency (ESA) on the nest planetary mission JJUpiter ICy moons Exploer (JUICE) for a launch in 2022. The goals are to explore Jupiter and its potentially habitable icy moons and to study its plasma environment. Impedance probes, which are well known in geophysical prospection, in particular for ground permittivity investigations, have been successfully transposed to space plasmas diagnostic. Transmitting and receiving electrodes are used for measuring on open circuit the dynamic impedance of the system at several fixed frequencies over a range that includes characteristic frequencies of the ambient plasma. The measurements are then interpreted using a suitable theory and the values of plasma parameters, such as the electron density and possibly the temperature of the plasma can be deduced. To show how powerful this technique is, results obtained in the Earth's plasmasphere by the mutual impedance probe onboard ROSETTA are presented as example. MIME instrument proposal is then described and its ability to make valuable measurements in the Jupiter space environment and in particular around Europe, Callisto and Ganymede is investigated..

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]

Jean-Louis Rauch, P. Henri, J. E. Wahlund, O. Le Duff, O. Sene, et al.. Electron Density Measurement on JUICE Mission by Mutual Impedance Technique: MIME Instrument as a Part of RPWI Consortium. European Planetary Science Congress 2017, Sep 2017, Riga Latvia, Latvia. ⟨insu-03568110⟩