File: P10PLA_SPECTRA_NMC.txt                Version: NSSDC 11/15/2001 JFC
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Pioneer 10 Solar Wind Plasma Spectra

NSSDC ID: 72-012A-13M
Mission Name: Pioneer 10
Experiment Name: Quadrispherical Plasma Analyzer

Availability: Data at NSSDC Ready for Distribution
Time Span: 1972-03-06 to 1986-12-29 (as determined by NSSDC) 

Description

This data set provides the primary Level1 archive of telemetry data from 
the Plasma Analyzer experiment on the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. These 
'spectral files' retain most of the original telemetry data provided in 
EDR (Experiment Data Record) and REDR (Reduced EDR) format but are now 
archived in ASCII format. The primary data include raw channel counts for
energy/charge distributions in instrument units and coordinates. Each 
file contains a consecutive series of telemetry data readouts for spectra
accumulated in various instrument modes. Numbers of records for 
individual spectral range from six to more than 18,000, so record and 
file lengths are variable. The data set documentation describes the 
further processing steps that are required to prepare these data for 
higher level processing: (1) conversion from Earth Received Time (ERT) to
Spacecraft Ephemeris Time (SCET), (2) transformation of spacecraft 
attitude information to heliocentric (e.g., RTN) coordinates, (3) 
conversion of raw instrument counts for channels of each energy/charge 
(E/Q) spectrum to flux units with application of calibration data, and 
(4) flagging or elimination of bad data and noise. The spectra can then 
be processed to recover the actual velocity distributions of the incident
solar wind plasma and can also be integrated to obtain solar wind bulk 
parameters such as velocity, density, and temperature. The 
instrumentation, measured parameters, format of the spectral files, and 
data processing procedures are fully defined in the text file 
B3spectralfile.txt. Sample C++ routines are also included to read the 
spectral files. The document and software files, and a sample data file, 
can be accessed on-lined at the NSSDC Anonymous FTP site, either by login
to anonymous@nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov for directory 
spacecraft_data/pioneer/pioneer10/plasma/ spectra or by access with a web browser
at the following URL address: 

ftp://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacecraft_data/pioneer/pioneer10/plasma/spectra/