Plasma Investigation
The PLS looks for the lowest-energy particles in plasma. It also has the ability to look for particles moving at particular speeds and, to a limited extent, to determine the direction from which they come.
PLS Science Objectives
» The properties and radial evolution of the solar wind.
» The interacion of the solar wind with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
» The sources, properties, and morphology of the magnetospheric plasma from Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
» The interactions of magnetospheric plasma with the planetary satellites with particular emphasis on plasma properties in the vicinity of Io, Titan, and Triton.
» Ions of interstellar origin.
» Detect and characterize the nature of the termination shock, where the solar wind slows down and becomes more dense as it prepares to encounter the heliopause.
» Make the first detection of the heliopause boundary and the first detection of the plasma from outside our solar system, the interstellar medium.
