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.

---