ISINGLASS campaign multi point sensors and data integration

The upcoming ISINGLASS mission will take place during February 2017 and will consist of 2 rockets launched out of Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska. Each rocket will deploy sensorcraft on the upleg to generate a localized multipoint measurement of the ionospheric plasma environment. Ground based measurements such as the PFISR and SuperDARN radar arrays, CCD cameras making maps of multi-wavelength energy flux and characteristic energy, and Scanning Doppler Imagers for neutral flows, will also be used in conjunction with the in situ rocket measurements. The GEMINI ionospheric model will be used to stitch together all of the various data products during the mission to provide a map of the relevant parameters during the duration of the campaign. The sensors built by Dartmouth for this mission are called Petite Ion Probes (PIPs), collimated RPAs with heritage on the MICA auroral mission. For the upcoming Isinglass flights, PIPs will be assembled into small ejectables, and four of these sensorcraft will be deployed from each of the two rockets on the upleg, creating a localized swarm for the duration of the flight through the F-region ionosphere. During the science portion of the flight, the sensorcraft will be spaced 1km apart from the main payload, which allows for the multipoint measurement of small-scale gradients in the F-region, such as across the edges of arcs. Interpretation of the data from the PIPs is aided by calibration done at Dartmouth in the Elephant plasma chamber. Comparison between the PIPs, and Langmuir and emissive probe measurements, provides verification of the PIP measurements, as well as verifying the field of view of the detector in the various configurations present on the payload. Observational goals for the campaign target a different type of auroral arc with each of the two rockets. The measured response of the thermal ionospheric plasma to different types and scale sizes of auroral precipitation drivers will provide two case studies quantifying the gradient scale lengths of auroral disturbances.