On July 14th, 2017, the first Norwegian scientific satellite NorSat-1 was launched into a high-inclination (98∘), low-Earth orbit (600 km altitude) from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. As part of the payload package, NorSat-1 carries the multi-needle Langmuir probe (m-NLP) instrument which is capable of sampling the electron density at a rate up to 1 kHz, thus offering an unprecedented opportunity to continuously resolve ionospheric plasma density structures down to a few meters. Over the coming years, NorSat-1 will cross the equatorial and polar regions twice every 90 minutes, providing a wealth of data that will help to better understand the mechanisms that dissipate energy input from larger spatial scales by creating small-scale plasma density structures within the ionosphere. In this paper we describe the m-NLP system on board NorSat-1 and present some first results from the instrument commissioning phase. We show that the m-NLP instrument performs as expected and highlight its unique capabilities at resolving small-scale ionospheric plasma density structures.

中文翻译：

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NorSat-1 上的多针朗缪尔探针系统

2017 年 7 月 14 日，挪威第一颗科学卫星 NorSat-1 从哈萨克斯坦拜科努尔发射到高倾角（98∘）、低地球轨道（600 公里高度）。作为有效载荷包的一部分，NorSat-1 携带多针朗缪尔探针 (m-NLP) 仪器，该仪器能够以高达 1 kHz 的速率对电子密度进行采样，从而为连续解析电离层等离子体密度提供了前所未有的机会低至几米的结构。在接下来的几年里，NorSat-1 将每 90 分钟两次穿越赤道和极地地区，提供丰富的数据，有助于更好地了解通过在赤道和极地内创建小尺度等离子体密度结构来耗散更大空间尺度的能量输入的机制。电离层。在本文中，我们描述了 NorSat-1 上的 m-NLP 系统，并展示了仪器调试阶段的一些初步结果。我们展示了 m-NLP 仪器的性能符合预期，并突出了其在解析小尺度电离层等离子体密度结构方面的独特能力。