NSSDCA ID: 1967-123A-07
Mission Name: Pioneer 8Electrostatic and electromagnetic plasma waves were measured in the solar wind near 1 AU using an unbalanced dipole antenna. The 423-MHz Stanford University antenna, which served as the sensor, was capacitively coupled to three channels. Channel 1 was a 15 % bandpass filter centered at 400 Hz, a typical interplanetary electron cyclotron frequency. Channel 2 was a 15 % bandpass filter centered at 22 kHz, a typical interplanetary electron plasma frequency. The broadband channel from 100 Hz to 100 kHz was fed into a count rate meter that measured the number of positive going pulses per unit time having amplitudes large enough to cross the present trigger level. The trigger level was varied in 16 steps per telemetry sequence. The trigger levels together with the count rate at each level gave a measure of the broadband power spectrum. Almost all of the time this measurement amounts to the power spectrum at near 100 Hz. At the highest telemetry rate of Pioneer 8, this sequence was repeated every 7.47 min.
Questions and comments about this experiment can be directed to: Coordinated Request and User Support Office
Name | Role | Original Affiliation | |
---|---|---|---|
Dr. Ira M. Green | Other Investigator | TRW Systems Group | |
Dr. Frederick L. Scarf | Principal Investigator | TRW Systems Group |