Articles | Volume 44, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-44-1143-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-44-1143-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Regular paper
| 
21 Oct 2026
Regular paper |
| 21 Oct 2026
| 21 Oct 2026
Ion composition of the Earth plasmasphere observed by the PEP JEI and RPWI instruments on the JUICE spacecraft
Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Henning Fischer
Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Norbert Krupp
Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Elias Roussos
Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Philipp Wittmann
Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, Göttingen, Germany
Patrick Bambach
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Cologne, Germany
Jan-Erik Wahlund
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Uppsala, Sweden
Gabriella Stenberg Wieser
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
Stas Barabash
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
Mika Holmberg
Astronomy Astrophysics Section, School of Cosmic Physics, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, DIAS Dunsink Observatory, Dublin, Ireland
Maryam Zeroual
Astronomy Astrophysics Section, School of Cosmic Physics, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, DIAS Dunsink Observatory, Dublin, Ireland
Pontus C. Brandt
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Peter Wurz
Space Research & Planetary Sciences, University of Bern, Switzerland
Martin Wieser
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
Yoshifumi Futaana
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
Manabu Shimoyama
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
Angèle Pontoni
Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Kiruna, Sweden
Audrey Vorburger
Space Research & Planetary Sciences, University of Bern, Switzerland
André Galli
Space Research & Planetary Sciences, University of Bern, Switzerland
Andreas Riedo
Space Research & Planetary Sciences, University of Bern, Switzerland
George Ho
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Donald G. Mitchell
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
George Clark
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Peter Kollmann
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Malamati Gkioulidou
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Leonardo Regoli
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
Kazushi Asamura
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Sagamihara, Japan
Esa Kallio
Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, School of Electrical Engineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
Andrea Opitz
Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Budapest, Hungary
Manuel Grande
Institute of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Wales Aberystwyth, Wales, UK
Andrew Coates
Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College, London, UK
Geraint Jones
Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College, London, UK
Theodoros Sarris
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece
Andrey Fedorov
Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNES-CNRS-Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
Nicolas André
Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), CNES-CNRS-Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO), Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
Ján Baláž
Institute of Experimental Physics SAS, Košice, Slovak Republic
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The electric charge build up on the surface of the JUICE spacecraft was simulated for two different environments around Earth. These results are important for improving the data analysis. In the dense and cold region close to Earth, an average potential of -2 V was found. In the second region, a hotter environment beyond Earth’s magnetic field, a potential of 2.5 V was found. The behaviour of particles around JUICE was also simulated, which can affect the accuracy and range of measurements made.
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Konstantinos Dialynas, Matina Gkioulidou, Donald Mitchell, Pontus Brandt, George Clark, Elias Roussos, Peter Kollmann, Leonardo Regoli, Frederic Allegrini, Nicolas Andre, Xianzhe Jia, Krishan Khurana, Carol Paty, Stas Barabash, and Peter Wurz
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François Poulet, Giuseppe Piccioni, Yves Langevin, Cydalise Dumesnil, Vincent Carlier, Benoit Seignovert, Marc Dexet, Leigh N. Fletcher, Cédric Leyrat, Francesca Altieri, John Carter, Emiliano D'Aversa, Maria De Sanctis, Davide Grassi, Sandrine Guerlet, Stéphane Le Mouélic, Alessandra Migliorini, Fabrizio Oliva, Clément Royer, Sébastien Rodriguez, Katrin Stephan, Federico Tosi, Francesca Zambon, Alberto Adriani, Gabriele Arnold, Jean-Pierre Bibring, Dominique Bockelée, Rosario Brunetto, Fabrizio Capaccioni, Cristian Carli, Thibault Cavalié, Miriam Cisneros González, Mauro Ciarnello, Simone De Angelis, Pierre Drossart, Gianrico Filacchione, Thierry Fouchet, Jean-Claude Gérard, Denis Grodent, Patrick Irwin, Sophie Jacquinod, Ozgur Karatekin, Emmanuel Lellouch, Nicolas Ligier, Nicolas Mangold, Magali Mebsout, Frédéric Merlin, Alessandro Morbidelli, Alessandro Mura, Andreas Nathues, Maria E. Palumbo, Cédric Pilorget, Olivier Poch, Eric Quirico, Andrea Raponi, Séverine Robert, Elias Roussos, Agustin Sanchez-Lavega, Bernard Schmitt, Giuseppe Sindoni, Marcel Snels, Roberto Sordini, Stefania Stefani, Giovanni Strazzulla, Tim Trent, Gabriel Tobie, Diego Turrini, Ann-Carine Vandaele, Mathieu Vincendon, Olivier Witasse, Claire Vallat, and Alessandro Moraino
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Rumi Nakamura, Thierry Dudok de Wit, Geraint H. Jones, Matt G. G. T. Taylor, Nicolas André, Charlotte Goetz, Lina Z. Hadid, Laura A. Hayes, Heli Hietala, Caitríona M. Jackman, Larry Kepko, Aurélie Marchaudon, Adam Masters, Mathew Owens, Noora Partamies, Stefaan Poedts, Jonathan Rae, Yuri Shprits, Manuela Temmer, Daniel Verscharen, and Robert F. Wimmer-Schweingruber
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Heliophysics spans a wide range of disciplines covering the study of the Sun and the different Solar System bodies, such as Earth and other planets, moons, comets, and asteroids, and their interactions with the Sun, focusing on plasma and atmospheric processes. A grass-roots effort has been recently started toward establishing a European Heliophysics Community (https://www.heliophysics.eu/). This white paper outlines the motivation, priorities, and a future vision of Heliophysics in Europe.
Sebastián Rojas Mata, Gabriella Stenberg Wieser, Tielong Zhang, and Yoshifumi Futaana
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The Sun ejects a stream of charged particles into space that have to flow around planets like Venus. We quantify how this flow varies with spatial location using spacecraft measurements of the particles and magnetic field taken over several years. We find that this flow is connected to interactions with the heavier charged particles that originate from Venus’ upper atmosphere. These interactions are not unique to Venus, so we compare our results to similar studies at Mars.
Joachim Vogt, Octav Marghitu, Adrian Blagau, Leonie Pick, Nele Stachlys, Stephan Buchert, Theodoros Sarris, Stelios Tourgaidis, Thanasis Balafoutis, Dimitrios Baloukidis, and Panagiotis Pirnaris
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Motivated by recent community interest in a satellite mission to the atmospheric lower thermosphere and ionosphere (LTI) region (100–200 km altitude), the DIPCont project is concerned with the reconstruction quality of vertical profiles of key LTI variables using dual- and single-spacecraft observations. The report introduces the probabilistic DIPCont modeling framework, demonstrates its usage by means of a set of self-consistent parametric non-isothermal models, and discusses first results.
Martin Volwerk, Cyril Simon Wedlund, David Mautner, Sebastián Rojas Mata, Gabriella Stenberg Wieser, Yoshifumi Futaana, Christian Mazelle, Diana Rojas-Castillo, César Bertucci, and Magda Delva
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Freshly created ions in solar wind start gyrating around the interplanetary magnetic field. When they cross the bow shock, they get an extra kick, and this increases the plasma pressure against the magnetic pressure. This leads to the creation of so-called mirror modes, regions where the magnetic field decreases in strength and the plasma density increases. These structures help in exploring how energy is transferred from the ions to the magnetic field and where around Venus this is happening.
Panagiotis Pirnaris and Theodoros Sarris
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The relation between electron, ion and neutral temperatures in the lower thermosphere–ionosphere (LTI) is key to understanding the energy balance and transfer between species. However, their simultaneous measurement is rare in the LTI. Based on data from the AE-C, AE-D, AE-E and DE-2 satellites of the 1970s and 1980s, a large number of events where neutrals are hotter than ions are identified and statistically analyzed. Potential mechanisms that could trigger these events are proposed.
Cyril Simon Wedlund, Martin Volwerk, Christian Mazelle, Sebastián Rojas Mata, Gabriella Stenberg Wieser, Yoshifumi Futaana, Jasper Halekas, Diana Rojas-Castillo, César Bertucci, and Jared Espley
Ann. Geophys., 41, 225–251, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-225-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-41-225-2023, 2023
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Mirror modes are magnetic bottles found in the space plasma environment of planets contributing to the energy exchange with the solar wind. We use magnetic field measurements from the NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission to detect them around Mars and show how they evolve in time and space. The structures concentrate in two regions: one behind the bow shock and the other closer to the planet. They compete with other wave modes depending on the solar flux and heliocentric distance.
Brady P. Strabel, Leonardo H. Regoli, Mark B. Moldwin, Lauro V. Ojeda, Yining Shi, Jacob D. Thoma, Isaac S. Narrett, Bret Bronner, and Matthew Pellioni
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The design, characteristics, and performance of a CubeSat magnetometer board (Quad-Mag) equipped with four PNI RM3100 magnetometers is presented. The inclusion of four sensors allows a potential factor of 2 reduction in the noise floor established for an individual sensor via oversampling with multiple sensors. The Quad-Mag is shown to enable 1 nT magnetic field measurements at 1 Hz and 5.345 nT at 65 Hz using commercial off-the-shelf sensors for space applications.
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Short summary
During the first Earth gravity assist maneuver of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer spacecraft in August 2024 the spacecraft passed through the Earth plasmasphere for about 2 hours. The Jovian Ion and Electron spectrometer was able to make a very rare observation of the molecular ion fraction of the cold and dense plasma in the Earth plasmasphere. The analysis also shows that the spectrometer can resolve ion masses by using the negative potential of the spacecraft.
During the first Earth gravity assist maneuver of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer spacecraft in...
