NILSSON , H.

Context. In past decades, several spacecraft have visited comets to investigate their plasma environments. In the coming years, Comet Interceptor will make yet another attempt. This time, the target comet and its outgassing activity are unknown and may not be known before the spacecraft has been launched into its parking orbit, where it will...

Context. The Mutual Impedance Probe (RPC-MIP) carried by the Rosetta spacecraft monitored both the plasma density and the electric field in the close environment of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P), as the instrument was operating alternatively in two main modes: active and passive. The active mode is used primarily to perform plasma...

We examine the origin of electrons in a weakly outgassing comet, using Rosetta mission data and a 3D collisional model of electrons at a comet. We have calculated a new data set of electron-impact ionization (EII) frequency throughout the Rosetta escort phase, with measurements of the Rosetta Plasma Consortium's Ion and Electron Sensor...

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