Plasma-physics investigations on the first Spacelab payload

Ion and electron beams (10 keV) are to be injected into space from Spacelab and the resulting interactions (neutralization, triggered waves and instabilities, and interaction with local atmosphere) investigated using a European payload called 'Picpab'. The Picpab experiment consists of two accelerators (100 mA max electron beam current, 3 mA ion beam current), wave receivers (up to 100 MHz), a radio-frequency plasma probe, an electron temperature probe and two particle-energy analyzers. A control unit and processor regulates the data-collection mode (1 Mbit/s) and acts as the interface with Spacelab's Command and Data Management System (CDMS).