| Popis: |
The characteristics of an open-source mass spectrometer designed for use on the Atmosphere Explorer satellites C, D and E were determined in a high speed molecular beam simulating upper atmosphere flight. In its normal mode of operation it was found that for CO2 and Ar beams having speeds as great as 3.9 km sec−1 the performance closely matched that of an idealized closed source instrument. When operated in a “fly-through” mode, one in which no drawing out fields were applied to ions formed in the electron beam, the mass spectrometer rejected either residual gases or molecules which had reflected from the instrument's surfaces, and passed only incident beam molecules or ion fragments acquiring kinetic energy in the ionization process. The application as a gas analysis tool is discussed, as is the application to analyses of an ambient atmosphere by an instrument carried on a fast-moving spacecraft such as an earth satellite or planetary probe. |
