ASICs for the Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Investigation on NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto
Abstract
One of the most critical challenges of the Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Science Inves-tigation (PEPSSI) was to meet the science requirements with a total mass and power of ¡1.5 kg and ¡2.5 W, respectively. A key, enabling technology to achieve these goals was the exten-sive use of high-performance, low-power, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for the miniaturization of the 12-channel solid state detector (SSD) readout system, the time-of-flight (TOF) system, and the power supply and housekeeping systems. The PEPSSI instrument is a TOF-versus-energy, compact particle spectrometer that provides measurements of ions and electrons from 20keV to 1MeV in a 160 x 12 solid angle field of view divided into six dual-channel sectors. TOF, constant fraction discriminator (CFD), energy, peak detector, and temperature, remote input/output (TRIO, housekeeping) ASICs were all used synergistically in the instrument enabling the high science performance within the resource constraints. The ASICs were space qualified in accord with military specifications (Class S) for total radiation dose and single-event effects (SEEs), and, most importantly, for a 2000-hour life test to increase the reliability for the long duration of the mission. PEPSSI flies on-board the New Horizons NASA spacecraft to measure pick-up ions from the Pluto's outgassing atmosphere. The space-craft was launched 19 Jan 2006 and presently is en route to Pluto, having passed Jupiter in early 2007. Closest approach to Pluto will occur in mid-July 2015. The instrument has already produced excellent measurements in interplanetary space and during the traversal of Jupiter's magnetotail in 2007.
- Publication:
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38th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010cosp...38.2235P