AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Vacuum Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session VT-WeA

Invited Paper VT-WeA1
Experimental Investigation of the Near-Earth Space

Wednesday, November 15, 2006, 2:00 pm, Room 2000

Session: Space-based Vacuum Applications and Instrumentation; Panel Discussion on Vacuum Science and Technology
Presenter: M. Wüest, INFICON GmbH, Switzerland
Correspondent: Click to Email
Since the days of the first launch of an orbiting satellite containing scientific instrumentation in January 1958 the space environment in the vicinity of Earth has been studied in more and more detail. Substantial improvements have been made to the space-based instrumentation since then. In the area of low energy particle instruments they have evolved from the simple cylindrical electrostatic analyzer to complicated time-of-flight mass spectrometers. I will trace the evolution of the space physics instrumentation in terms of measuring capability and how this contributed to a better understanding of near-Earth space.