A drifted Maxwellian velocity distribution is the most common model used to interpret the data from low-energy charged-particle instruments onboard spacecraft that are used to investigate the ambient plasma environment in the low Earth orbit (LEO). An original method is presented for determining the flow parameters (density, temperature, and flow energy) of such a distribution from the output of the integrated miniaturized electrostatic analyzer, which has been successfully flown on several LEO missions. Rather than attempting to deconvolve from the on-orbit data the analyzer’s response to an ideal, monoenergetic input, numerical simulation is used to predict and parameterize the response of the device to an input distribution that includes an isotropic, non-zero temperature, yielding a straightforward method for extracting the flow parameters from the spacecraft data. The method is computationally simple enough to be incorporated into a robust algorithm suitable for rapid batch processing or real-time analysis of data.

中文翻译：

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iMESA静电分析仪的整体数值校准

漂移的麦克斯韦速度分布是用于解释航天器中用于研究低地球轨道（LEO）周围等离子体环境的低能带电粒子仪器的数据的最常用模型。提出了一种从集成的小型静电分析仪的输出确定这种分布的流量参数（密度，温度和流量能量）的原始方法，该方法已经成功地执行了几次LEO任务。与其尝试从分析仪的在轨数据中解卷积分析器对理想的单能输入的响应，不如使用数值模拟来预测和参数化设备对包括各向同性，非零温度的输入分布的响应，产生了一种从航天器数据中提取流量参数的简单方法。该方法在计算上足够简单，可以合并到适用于快速批处理或数据实时分析的强大算法中。