NSSDCA ID: 1973-019A-05
Mission Name: Pioneer 11This experiment consisted of an array of five particle detectors with electron thresholds in the range .01 to 35 MeV and proton thresholds in the range 0.15 to 80 MeV. A Cerenkov counter (C) had four output channels (C1, C2, C3, and CDC) sensitive to electrons having energies above 5, 8, 12, and 1 MeV, respectively. An electron scatter counter (E) had three output channels (E1, E2, and E3) sensitive to electrons above .16, .26, and .46 MeV. A minimum ionization counter (M) had three output channels: M1, sensitive to electrons having energies greater than 35 MeV; M2, measuring background; and M3, sensitive to protons having energies greater than 80 MeV. The last two sensors were scintillator detectors (SP and SE), both of which had energy thresholds of 10 keV for electrons and 150 keV for protons. The sensitivity of the SE detector to protons was about a factor of 10 lower than its sensitivity to electrons. Thus, the SEDC channel effectively measured the electron flux, which could then be subtracted from the SPDC channel response to obtain the proton flux. Several other channels listed above required corrections to obtain the fluxes of the species indicated. The detector channels could be programmed for readout in any one of four patterns at each of the eight spacecraft bit-rate modes. During encounter when the spacecraft was operating in the highest bit-rate mode, the minimum time to sample one channel was 1.5 s and the time to obtain a complete scan through all channels was 108 s. Since the directional detectors pointed perpendicularly to the spin axis and the spin rate was 5 rpm, pitch-angle measurements were obtained. Although this experiment was primarily designed for encounter studies, some data were obtained at low rates in interplanetary space.
Mass: 1.72 kg
Power (avg): 2.8 W
Questions and comments about this experiment can be directed to: Dr. John F. Cooper
Name | Role | Original Affiliation | |
---|---|---|---|
Prof. Carl E. McIlwain | Other Investigator | University of California, San Diego | cmcilwain@ucsd.edu |
Dr. R. Walker Fillius | Principal Investigator | University of California, San Diego | wfillius@ucsd.edu |