Nature of Interplanetary Cosmic Electrons (NICE)

研究人员计划通过测量在下一个太阳活动最小时期从50 MeV到500 MeV的几乎未被探索的能量范围内的电子(负电子和正电子)的光谱来确定行星际宇宙电子的性质。主要工作是开发一种能够从南极洲麦克默多站进行长时间(20-30天)飞行的轻型气球携带仪器。这样的飞行还能够检查正电子在整个太阳自转过程中相对丰度的时间变化。在50 MeV到500 MeV之间的电子探测太阳风中的大尺度和湍流结构，其长度和时间尺度在只测量离子时是无法获得的。

The investigators are planning to determine the nature of interplanetary cosmic electrons by measuring the spectra of electrons (negatrons and positrons) in the nearly unexplored energy range from 50 MeV to 500 MeV at the time of the next solar minimum period. The main effort is to develop a lightweight balloon borne instruments capable of a long-duration (20-30 day) flight from McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Such a flight is also capable of examining variations in time of the relative abundance of positrons over a complete solar rotation. Electrons between 50 MeV and 500 MeV probe both large scale and turbulent structures in the solar wind on length and time scales not accessible when only ions are measured.