SWAP (New Horizons)

New Horizons

SWAP (Solar Wind Around Pluto) is an science instrument aboard the unmanned New Horizons space probe, which was designed to flyby dwarf planet Pluto.[1] SWAP was designed to record Solar Wind en route, at, and beyond Pluto.[2]At Pluto, SWAP will also record the potential nature between the solar wind and ions and/or material entering space from the atmosphere of Pluto.[3] As early as 1980 there was interest in atmospheric loss from Pluto, with Pluto being compared to losses from comets.[4]

SWAP can detect the sparse solar wind concentration at 32 AU, which is about 3 orders of magnitude less than near Earth (1 AU).[5] However, at that distance the flow of the Solar Wind is still supersonic, and thus liable to create a bow shock around an obstacle.[6] One of the areas of investigation is the relationship between high altitude atmospheric loss and the solar wind.[7] After the July 2015 flyby of Pluto by New Horizons, data from SWAP was used to study the nature of Pluto's interaction with the solar wind.[8] It was determined that NH entered a Plutopause and passed through a heavy ion tail.[9]

Earlier in the mission SWAP was intended to observe the Solar Wind around Jupiter.[10] SWAP was also designed to be used in conjunction with PEPPSI and REX, to study how the solar wind changes with greater distance from the Sun.[11]

SWAP is a top-hat electrostatic analyzer.[12]

See also

  • MAVEN (explored the Martian atmospheric loss, Mars orbiter of the 2010s)
  • SWAP (instrument) (similarly named spacecraft instrument on a Solar space observatory)

References

  1. ↑ Elliott, H. A.; McComas, D. J.; Valek, P.; Nicolaou, G.; Weidner, S.; Livadiotis, G. (2016-04-06). "New Horizons Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) Observations of the Solar Wind From 11-33 AU". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 223 (2): 19. doi:10.3847/0067-0049/223/2/19. ISSN 1538-4365.
  2. ↑ Elliott, H. A.; McComas, D. J.; Valek, P.; Nicolaou, G.; Weidner, S.; Livadiotis, G. (2016-04-06). "New Horizons Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) Observations of the Solar Wind From 11-33 AU". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 223 (2): 19. doi:10.3847/0067-0049/223/2/19. ISSN 1538-4365.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑
  5. ↑
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  8. ↑ McComas, D. J.; Elliott, H. A.; Weidner, S.; Valek, P.; Zirnstein, E. J.; Bagenal, F.; Delamere, P. A.; Ebert, R. W.; Funsten, H. O. (2016-05). "Pluto's interaction with the solar wind". Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 121 (5): 4232–4246. doi:10.1002/2016ja022599. ISSN 2169-9380. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ↑ McComas, D. J.; Elliott, H. A.; Weidner, S.; Valek, P.; Zirnstein, E. J.; Bagenal, F.; Delamere, P. A.; Ebert, R. W.; Funsten, H. O. (2016-05). "Pluto's interaction with the solar wind". Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 121 (5): 4232–4246. doi:10.1002/2016ja022599. ISSN 2169-9380. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ↑
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ Elliott, H. A.; McComas, D. J.; Valek, P.; Nicolaou, G.; Weidner, S.; Livadiotis, G. (2016). "The New Horizons Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) Observations of the Solar Wind from 11–33 au". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 223 (2): 19. doi:10.3847/0067-0049/223/2/19. ISSN 0067-0049.
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