Low Voltage, Ultra-Compact Plasma Spectrometer: Phase 2

Beginning with single spacecraft and progressing to recent multi-spacecraft missions, exploration of near- Earth space has increasingly focused on understanding the energy flow and coupling between different spatial regions through simultaneous measurements of essential plasma parameters, e.g., magnetic field, electric field, density, and temperature, over the relevant spatial scales. The next step in multi-spacecraft missions is to go well beyond missions consisting of a handful of rather large and sophisticated spacecraft to missions comprised of large numbers of more simple spacecraft. For example, the Magnetospheric Constellation mission concept proposes up to one hundred ~10–20 kg spacecraft, each with a power budget of 10 W, deployed in highly elliptical, equatorial orbits. By flying up to 100 small, low-power spacecraft it is possible to resolve the magnetotail as a coupled whole by making dense vector field and plasma measurements over a large region of space. Missions such as Magnetospheric Constellation will revolutionize our view of the magnetosphere by resolving spatial and temporal ambiguities, determining the scale size of processes and regions, and reveal connections between the different regions of the magnetotail. However, plasma instruments small enough to fit on such spacecraft and capable of operating at very low power levels do not yet exist. The first objective of this work is to demonstrate that it is possible to reduce the mass and power of plasma spectrometers by orders of magnitude while maintaining the geometric factor, and thereby the time resolution, to within an order of magnitude of "conventional" instruments. Without such reductions in instrument requirements, it will not be possible to address these core scientific questions. The reductions in mass and power are to be accomplished by lithographically fabricating the essential components of the instrument – using the same state-of-the-art etching processes developed for modern computer chips. The penalty for reduced mass and power is, of course, reduced performance compared to a conventional instrument. However, while addressing the target science questions requires massive numbers of measurements, the individual measurements themselves need not be particularly sophisticated. A second, equally important objective of this work is to demonstrate a significant advancement in the manufacturing methodology of space plasma instruments. By reducing the unit cost for a single plasma spectrometer through mass production, manufacturing defects will be treated as they are in the semiconductor device industry – by simple disposal of the defective unit. Through the support of a previous H-TIDS project, the critical path components needed to realize the proposed plasma spectrometer have been manufactured and successfully tested (the collimator and energy analyzer were successfully tested in a 5 keV electron beam). The prior work also resulted in the identification of significant improvements in the manufacturing process. The work proposed here will employ those improvements to further reduce fabrication costs and enable the assembly of a prototype instrument. The instrument begins at a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 3. After integrating a combined collimator and energy analyzer structure with a detector assembly and then testing the prototype instrument in electron and ion beam calibration facilities, this project will terminate with an ultra-compact plasma spectrometer at a TRL of 6.

Support NASA's Heliophysics strategic science objectives to understand the Sun and its interactions with Earth and the solar system, including space weather. This will be achieved by developing/demonstrating instrumentation technology necessary to address the following science goals: Explore the physical processes in the space environment from the Sun to the Earth and throughout the solar system; Advance our understanding of the connections that link the Sun, the Earth, planetary space environments, and the outer reaches of our solar system; Develop the knowledge and capability to detect and predict extreme conditions in space to protect life and society and to safeguard human and robotic explorers beyond Earth.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.