# Validation and characterisation of the Sweeping Langmuir Probe (SLP) instrument for the PICASSO mission

Sylvain Ranvier, Michel Anciaux, Jean-Pierre Lebreton, Johan de Keyser

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Sylvain Ranvier, Michel Anciaux, Jean-Pierre Lebreton, Johan de Keyser. Validation and characterisation of the Sweeping Langmuir Probe (SLP) instrument for the PICASSO mission. 22nd EGU General Assembly, 2020, Online, France. 10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-14126 . insu-03560751

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Submitted on 8 Feb 2022

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# Validation and characterisation of the Sweeping Langmuir Probe (SLP) instrument for the PICASSO mission

Sylvain Ranvier<fnref n="1" />, Michel Anciaux<fnref n="1" />, Jean-Pierre Lebreton<fnref n="2" />,<fnref n="3" />, and Johan De Keyser<fnref n="1" />

The Sweeping Langmuir Probe (SLP) instrument, that uses a novel measurement technique to take into account spacecraft charging effects, has been developed at the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy. SLP will fly on board the ESA scientific in-orbit demonstrator PICASSO together with the hyper-spectral imager VISION. PICASSO, a triple unit CubeSat, will be launched in March 2020. The goal of the mission is to prove the feasibility of performing true science (with limited extent) with a nano-satellite and demonstrate the very low cost / science ratio with respect to big missions. SLP will allow a global monitoring of the ionosphere with a maximum spatial resolution of the order of 150 m. The main goals are to study the ionosphere-plasmasphere coupling, the subauroral ionosphere and corresponding magnetospheric features together with auroral structures and polar caps, by combining SLP data with other complementary data sources (space- or ground-based instruments). SLP can measure plasma density from $1e8/m^3$ up to $1e13/m^3$ and electron temperature up to 15 000 K.

We will present the main results from the validation tests performed in the plasma chamber at ESTEC together with comparisons with particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations performed with SPIS (Spacecraft Plasma Interaction System).

<footnote n="1">¹Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Space Physics, Brussels, Belgium (sylvain.ranvier@aeronomie.be)</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace (LPC2E), Orléans, France</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³Laboratoire d'Etudes Spatiales et d'Instrumentation en Astrophysique (LESIA), Meudon, France</footnote>