MESSENGER/FIPS – Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer
FIPS’ Mission on MESSENGER:
FIPS measures particle count rates, energy distributions, velocity vector distributions, and mass spectra at a high time resolution (64s) and between 50 eV/e and 20 keV/e in energy. FIPS has two functions near Mercury – first is to analyze pickup ions liberated from Mercury’s surface by solar winds and the second is to analyze solar winds themselves. It was built under the leadership of Prof. Zurbuchen (thomasz@umich.edu) at the University of Michigan.
Michigan Aerospace Program Involvement:
Michigan Aerospace staff provided mechanical design and analysis for the Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) instrument on the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) spacecraft. This work was performed under direction of Prof. Thomas Zurbuchen at the University of Michigan Atmospheric Oceanic and Space Sciences department (http://aoss.engin.umich.edu/).
Michigan Aerospace provided the Lead Mechanical Engineer, Greg Ritter, on the project in order to take the instrument from prototype phase to flight hardware in 10 months.
Project Description:
The FIPS instrument consists of several major sections – Electrostatic Analyzer (ESA), Time-of-Flight Section (TOF), Microchannel Plate Detectors (MCP’s), and Digital/Analog control and data handling. The figure below illustrates the size of the ESA.
The instrument is capable of utilizing voltages from +15kV to -15kV in the ESA and TOF regions, resulting in a large electric field that needed to be carefully managed. These fields required a great deal of attention to materials, surface treatments, and geometry (such as forming electron traps and reducing secondary electron emissions).
FEA analyses were performed to estimate component deflections and failure limits, vibrational analyses (such as shown in the picture below), and to model thermal loading.
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The design process required attention to but was not limited to the following:
- Mass budget
- Material survivability in vacuum and extreme temperature
- Radiation survivability
- Emissivity of materials
- Thermal conductivity and expansion
- High-voltage discharges
- Survival of Delta II vibration profile
- Process requirements and development
- Cost estimates for mechanical parts
- Schedule estimates for manufacturing and assembly
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FIPS Status:
As the first mission to Mercury since Mariner 10 (1975), MESSENGER launched on August 3 rd, 2004 aboard a Boeing Delta II at Cape Canaveral. On April 25 FIPS successfully obtained solar wind data. All systems operated perfectly. For more information refer to the MESSENGER website (http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/) or the group website at the University of Michigan (http://solar-heliospheric.engin.umich.edu/).
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