The HARP plasma experiment on-board the Phobos 2 spacecraft: Preliminary results

Abstract

The HARP differential electrostatic analyzer measured thermal and supra thermal electron and ion fluxes and distributions in the Mars environment. High bit-rate data obtained around the pericenter passage on elliptical orbits early in February 1989 will be highlighted, and correlation with results of other experiments will be discussed. A similarity between the HARP total count rate variations and the spacecraft potential measurements of the Plasma-Wave System experiment is established. The variation of electron energy spectra is discussed in various regions of the solar wind interaction with Mars. Tentative results on electron and ion anisotropy are presented, making use of regular variations of the ratio of count rates of two sensor heads looking in perpendicular directions. Magnetic field data of the MAGMA magnetometer are used for comparison.