Instrument Documentation
An organized collection of instrument documentation
This page provides quick access to documents/information about the Helios mission instruments. Documents available here, can also be found in the Data Repository. However, we went through the effort of gathering and sorting all documents that pertain to an instrument: some of the documents found here, under a given experiment, are otherwise scattered in different sub-directories on the Data Repository.
*Note: for data, codes/programs, and other files, please look at the Data Repository page.
User Guide
The amount of documentation for each experiment varies. Most of our documentation is focused on experiments E1, E2, E3, and E4: the experiments our team has worked on reanalyzing. We have a sparse collection of files for the other experiments (E5A - E10). Documents are sorted by experiment: experiment titles are collapsible tabs. Then the instrument documents are laid out in a table with the following column names: Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type.
E1 Plasma Detectors
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helios_data_time_diffs.png | Graph that shows some issue(s) with the E1, Helios 1, magnetic field data | 2011 | 146K | PNG |
| Stansby Helios Plasma Instruments Overview | An overview of the in-situ plasma instrumentation on board the Helios spacecraft. Information is taken from the translated technical manuals. | 2017 | 190K | |
| Stansby A New Inner Heliosphere Proton Parameter Dataset | We describe a reprocessing of the original Helios ion distribution functions to provide reliable and reproducible data to characterise the proton core population of the solar wind in the inner heliosphere. | 2018 | 1.3M | |
| Stansby Alpha particle thermodynamics in the inner heliosphere fast solar wind | In this study we aim to use the properties of alpha particles at heliocentric distances between 0.3 AU and 1 AU to study plasma processes occurring at the points of observation, and to infer processes occurring inside 0.3 AU by comparing our results to previous remote sensing observations of the plasma closer to the Sun. | 2019 | 330K | |
| E1 Bluebook BMFT-FB-W 81-015 (English) The instruments of the Plasma experiments on the HELIOS-Sun probes | This is an English translation of the original German document. The work was carried out by Imperial College London using computer translation with limited further copy editing. Four independent instruments are grouped under the name "Plasma Experiment", whose shared responsibility is the investigation of the interplanetary plasma, the so-called solar wind. | 1981 | 14M | |
| E1 Bluebook BMFT-FB-W 81-015 (German) Die Instrumente des Plasmaexperiments auf den HELIOS-Sonnensonden | Original German bluebook for experiment E1 instruments. | 1981 | 78M | |
| Schwenn Q&A about Helios E1 and E2 | This document is an email response from Schwenn, answering several detailed questions about experiments E1 and E2. The questions were composed by: Bob Wimmer-Schweingruber, Marsch, Eckart, Lars Berger, Jan Steinhagen, and Chadi Salem. | 2015 | 97K | |
| HELIOS SPASE Resource Description.pdf | This page summarizes information about the selected resource (Helios 1 Merged Plasma and Magnetic Field) and its origin based on SPASE metadata. | 2008 | 136K | |
| Schwenn The plasma experiment on Helios E1 (English).pdf | English translation of an entry, which discusses the experiment E1 instrument, in an aerospace research journal. The "plasma experiment" aboard of the solar probe HELIOS consists of four independent instruments which are designed to investigate the interplanetary plasma, the so-called solar wind. | 1975 | 927K | |
| Preparation and Evaluation of in-situ E1 Data (English - Translated).pdf | English translation of document that provides details about the original data collection and data processing. This report, which immediately adjacent BMFT-FB-W81-015 on the technical description in the report (whose understanding is assumed), describes the extraction of plasma parameters. | 1981 | 4.5M |
Showing 1 to 10 of 29 entries
E2 Fluxgate Magnetometer for Field Fluctuations
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FORMAT.DOC | Format for the ASCII version of Helios A & B 8 Second Averaged Magnetic Field Vector Data NSSDC ID: 74-097A-01E & 76-003A-01E | 1996 | 9.2K | DOC |
| he1_resolution.list | Provides an overview of resolutions available in the data daily files (referenced in the Wennmacher email) | 1974- 1984 | 716K | LIST |
| he2_resolution.list | Provides an overview of resolutions available in the data daily files (referenced in the Wennmacher email) | 1976- 1980 | 342K | LIST |
| E2_BlueBook_Neubauer Helios E2 E4 1981 (German - Original).pdf | Original E2 & E4 instrument bluebook written in German. | 1981 | 7.4M | |
| E2_BlueBook_Neubauer Helios E2 E4 1981 (English - Translated).pdf | English translation of original E2 & E4 instrument bluebook. Translation was done in 2017 at UC Berkeley by Tara Mellor. | 1981/ 2017 | 3.3M | |
| Helios Magnetic Field Data (Experiment E2) | Description of the original E2 data/data processing by F.M. Neubauer | 2014 | 29K | |
| Q&A about Helios E2 & E4 (Neubauer Email).pdf | Neubauer anwsers several questions regarding E2 & E4 | 2015 | 111K | |
| Data Archive for magnetic field, orbit, and plasma data in IGM data format and other formats | IGM document from 1998: written in German | 1998 | 298k | |
| SHA1SUM.txt | "# rehashed on 2013-09-02 06:47:28" Link to hash codes of TAR files below | 2013 | 338 | TXT |
| AAREADME.TXT | Helios 1 and 2 experiment E2 Triax Fluxgate Magnetometer: 8 Second Average Magnetic Field Data NSSDC ID: 74-097A-01E, 76-003A-01E The data are divided into sub-directories by spacecraft, ie: sub-directory H1 contains the Helios A data and sub-directory H2 contains the Helios B data. The filenames are defined as SS_YYDDD.dat where: SS - spacecraft identification, YY - year of data, DDD - Julian day of year, (Jan. 01 = day 1). | 1996 | 574 | TXT |
Showing 1 to 10 of 17 entries
E3 Fluxgate Magnetometer for Average Fields
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Rome‐GSFC magnetometer E3 onboard Helios | A presentation that summarizes the E3 instrument and original data processing/data collection: by Roberto Bruno. | 2016 | 504K | |
| Revisiting HELIOS: The Magnetic Field Data | This document discusses the Helios Mission magnetic field data (E1 - E4) and summarizes some of the problems/anomolies with the available data. | 2016 | 4.3M | |
| The Rome‐GSFC magnetometer E3 onboard Helios | This document gives an overview of the Rome-GSFC magnetic field experiment, E3, and the corresponding available data. | 2016 | 504K | |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E3.pdf | Original instrument paper for experiment E3, written in English. E3 is a cooperative effort between the Laboratorio Plasma Spazio of CNR (formerly at the University of Rome) and GSFC. The experiment utilizes a triaxial fluxgate magnetometer. | 1975 | 2.5M |
E4 Search Coil Magnetometer
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HELIOS SC Data Format.pdf | Document describes the original format and storgage of the E4 averages dataset. | 1981 | ||
| Description of Average Tapes of Experiment E4 | Document describes the original format and storgage of the E4 averages dataset. | 1981 | 263K | |
| Dynamic range definition for SCM: preliminary report | The purpose of this study is to use the search-coil and fluxgate data to estimate the expected level of magnetic field fluctuations for the Search-Coil Magnetometer (SCM) search-coil onboard the Solar Probe Plus mission, for distances ranging from 9 solar radii (0.044 AU) to 1 AU. | 2011 | 307K | |
| Helios1-Mean.pdf | Dynamic range definition for SCM: preliminary report FIGURE 1 | 2011 | 60K | |
| Helios1-Mean vs sensitivity.pdf | Dynamic range definition for SCM: preliminary report FIGURE 2 | 2011 | 191K | |
| SCM vs Helios gains.pdf | Dynamic range definition for SCM: preliminary report FIGURE 2 with some new markings | 2011 | 154K | |
| Revisiting HELIOS: The Magnetic Field Data | This document discusses the Helios Mission magnetic field data (E1 - E4) and summarizes some of the problems/anomolies with the available data. | 2016 | 4.3M | |
| Barnstorf_1980.pdf | German documentation about E2 and E4 from the IGM at TU-BS | 1980 | 84M | |
| Bordrechner_Helios_E2_und_E4.pdf | 1976 | 2.3M | ||
| HELIOS Search Coil E4: open questions | A technical presentation that analyzes the available E4 data, beginning with a comparison of E2 and E4 data readings. Several graphs are used to visuallize the E4 data. | 2016 | 8.3M |
Showing 1 to 10 of 24 entries
E5A Solar Wind Plasma Wave
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E5a (English) | Original instrument paper for experiment E5a, written in English. This document describes the University of Iowa solar wind plasma wave experiment, E5A. The objective of this experiment is the investigation of naturally occurring plasma instabilities and EM-waves in the solar wind. E5A consists primarily of a 16-channel spectrum analyzer connected to the electric field antennas. This spectrum analyzer, the antenna potential measurements, the shock alarm system and the supporting electronics are discussed in detail. |
1975 | 2.0M |
E5B Electric Field Experiment
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E5b (English) | Original instrument paper for experiment E5b, written in English. E5b is designed to measure electric fields in the frequency range of 0 to 200 kHz with high frequency resolution. It comprises three tunable plasma wave receivers, a fixed tuned (wide band) receiver, and a waveform sampler. These components are describes in details and block diagrams are presented. Finally the experiment operations and individual commands are discussed. |
1975 | 1.8M |
E5C Radio Astronomy Experiment
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E5c (English) | Original instrument paper for experiment E5C, written in English. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center radio astronomy experiment, E5C, has sixteen observing frequencies over the range of 26.5 to 3000 kHz. The antenna consists of two extendible 15-m booms, forming an electric dipole, two high-impedance preamplifiers located at the root of the booms, and the 16-channel radiometer. Important informations about propagation conditions, such as absorption, scattering and refraction, are expected from observations of radio emission regionsat distances between 1 and 0.3 AU. |
1975 | 2.0M |
E6 Cosmic-Ray Particles
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E6 (German) | Original instrument paper for experiment E6, written in German. The University of Kiel Experiment on board the solar probe HEL/OS (Experiment No. 6) measures high energy charged cosmic ray particles of solar, planetary and galactic origin in interplanetary space. Within the Earth orbit the interplanetary space will be investigated down to distances of 0.3 AU from the Sun. |
1975 | 4.3M |
E7 Cosmic Ray Instrument
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E7 (English) | Original instrument paper for experiment E7, written in English. This paper describes the design and performance of a cosmicray particle experiment, E7. Both sets of missions use several solid-state detector telescopes to measure protons from ~ 100 KeV to ~ 800 MeV per nucleon. Additionally, E7 includes a proportional counter to monitor the solar X-ray activity. |
1975 | 2.0M |
E8 Low Energy Electron and Proton Detector
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E8 (German) | Original instrument paper for experiment E8, written in German. The purpose of E8 is to investigate the origin of low-energy electrons and protons and their distribution mechanism. E8 is comprised of three separate units: the magneto-spectrometer, the analog electronics unit, and the digital electronics unit. The design is described in detail and first flight results are presented. |
1975 | 3.3M |
E9 Zodiacal Light Photometer
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E9 (English) | Original instrument paper for experiment E9, written in English. E9 consists of 3 photometers to measure the zodiacal light. Intensity and polarization of zodiacal light is measured in three wavelength bands. Measures of stray light reduction are discussed and optical and mechanical parameters are given. Pulse counting technique is used and data handling within the experiment is described. The stability of the sensors during the first 130 days of the mission is discussed. |
1975 | 2.0M |
E10 Micrometeroid (Dust) Detector and Analyzer
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E10 (German) | Original instrument paper for experiment E10, written in German. The micrometeoroid experiment aims to measure mass, speed, direction, chemical composition, and charge of cosmic dust particles. They are detected by the plasma produced upon impact on a solid target. The mounting of the experiment sensors to the spacecraft is shown. The measuring principle of the experiment is explained by discussing the schematic cross section of its sensors. Special attention is given to the interpretation of the quantities measured, which is needed to derive the informations on the micrometeoroids mentioned above. Also the sensitivity range of the experiment is shown. |
1975 | 2.0M |
E1 Plasma Detectors
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E1 (German) | Original instrument paper for experiment E1, written in German. The Plasma Experiment consists of four independent instruments which are designed to investigate the interplanetary plasma, the so-called solar wind. |
1975 | 5.6M | |
| Stansby Helios Plasma Instruments Overview |
An overview of the in-situ plasma instrumentation on board the Helios spacecraft. Information is taken from the translated technical manuals. | 2017 | 190K | |
| Stansby A New Inner Heliosphere Proton Parameter Dataset |
We describe a reprocessing of the original Helios ion distribution functions to provide reliable and reproducible data to characterise the proton core population of the solar wind in the inner heliosphere. | 2018 | 1.3M | |
| Stansby Alpha particle thermodynamics in the inner heliosphere fast solar wind |
In this study we aim to use the properties of alpha particles at heliocentric distances between 0.3 AU and 1 AU to study plasma processes occurring at the points of observation, and to infer processes occurring inside 0.3 AU by comparing our results to previous remote sensing observations of the plasma closer to the Sun. | 2019 | 330K | |
| E1 Bluebook BMFT-FB-W 81-015 (English) The instruments of the Plasma experiments on the HELIOS-Sun probes |
This is an English translation of the original German document. The work was carried out by Imperial College London using computer translation with limited further copy editing.
Four independent instruments are grouped under the name "Plasma Experiment", whose shared responsibility is the investigation of the interplanetary plasma, the so-called solar wind. |
1981 | 14M | |
| E1 Bluebook BMFT-FB-W 81-015 (German) Die Instrumente des Plasmaexperiments auf den HELIOS-Sonnensonden |
Original German bluebook for experiment E1 instruments. | 1981 | 78M | |
| Schwenn Q&A about Helios E1 and E2 | This document is an email response from Schwenn, answering several detailed questions about experiments E1 and E2. The questions were composed by: Bob Wimmer-Schweingruber, Marsch, Eckart, Lars Berger, Jan Steinhagen, and Chadi Salem. | 2015 | 97K | |
| HELIOS SPASE Resource Description.pdf | This page summarizes information about the selected resource (Helios 1 Merged Plasma and Magnetic Field) and its origin based on SPASE metadata. | 2008 | 136K | |
| Schwenn The plasma experiment on Helios E1 (English).pdf |
English translation of an entry, which discusses the experiment E1 instrument, in an aerospace research journal.
The "plasma experiment" aboard of the solar probe HELIOS consists of four independent instruments which are designed to investigate the interplanetary plasma, the so-called solar wind. |
1975 | 927K | |
| Preparation and Evaluation of in-situ E1 Data (English - Translated).pdf |
English translation of document that provides details about the original data collection and data processing.
This report, which immediately adjacent BMFT-FB-W81-015 on the technical description in the report (whose understanding is assumed), describes the extraction of plasma parameters. |
1981 | 4.5M | |
| Preparation and Evaluation of in-situ E1 Data (TitlePage).pdf |
Title Page of: Original German E1 instrument document that describes the extraction of plasma parameters. Provides details about the original data collection and data processing. |
1981 | 367K | |
| Preparation and Evaluation of in-situ E1 Data (part1).pdf |
Report and some referenced data of: Original German E1 instrument document that describes the extraction of plasma parameters. Provides details about the original data collection and data processing. |
1981 | 32M | |
| Preparation and Evaluation of in-situ E1 Data (part2).pdf |
Some referenced data of: Original German E1 instrument document that describes the extraction of plasma parameters. Provides details about the original data collection and data processing. |
1981 | 22M |
E2 Fluxgate Magnetometer for Field Fluctuations
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E2 (German) | Original instrument paper for experiment E2, written in German. E2 is a three component-vector-magnetometer. Its purpose is to continuously observe the interplanetary magnetic field in a frequency range up to 4 Hz. Thereby certain phenomena are to be analysed as a function of the distance from the sun e.g. the spiral structure and discontinuities. |
1975 | 5.6M |
E3 Fluxgate Magnetometer for Average Fields
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E3 (English) | Original instrument paper for experiment E3, written in English. E3 is a cooperative effort between the Laboratorio Plasma Spazio of CNR (formerly at the University of Rome) and GSFC. The experiment utilizes a triaxial fluxgate magnetometer. |
1975 | 2.5M |
E4 Search Coil Magnetometer
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E4 (German) | Original instrument paper for experiment E4, written in German. E4 investigates the magnetic component of EM-waves in the solar wind. By means of its waveform channel (WFC), rapid variations of the magnetic field are measured in three orthogonal directions. The spectrum analyzer (SPA) observes the field components in the ecliptic plane and perpendicular to it. Because of the large amount of data produced, an adaptive data reduction is applied: For interesting time intervals selected by E2 or E5A waveform data can be read into an on-board memory at a rapid rate to be transmitted slowly afterwards. |
1975 | 3.3M |
E5a Solar Wind Plasma Wave
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E5a (English) | Original instrument paper for experiment E5a, written in English. This document describes the University of Iowa solar wind plasma wave experiment, E5A. The objective of this experiment is the investigation of naturally occurring plasma instabilities and EM-waves in the solar wind. E5A consists primarily of a 16-channel spectrum analyzer connected to the electric field antennas. This spectrum analyzer, the antenna potential measurements, the shock alarm system and the supporting electronics are discussed in detail. |
1975 | 2.0M |
E5b Electric Field Experiment
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E5b (English) | Original instrument paper for experiment E5b, written in English. E5b is designed to measure electric fields in the frequency range of 0 to 200 kHz with high frequency resolution. It comprises three tunable plasma wave receivers, a fixed tuned (wide band) receiver, and a waveform sampler. These components are describes in details and block diagrams are presented. Finally the experiment operations and individual commands are discussed. |
1975 | 1.8M |
E5C Radio Astronomy Experiment
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E5c (English) | Original instrument paper for experiment E5C, written in English. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center radio astronomy experiment, E5C, has sixteen observing frequencies over the range of 26.5 to 3000 kHz. The antenna consists of two extendible 15-m booms, forming an electric dipole, two high-impedance preamplifiers located at the root of the booms, and the 16-channel radiometer. Important informations about propagation conditions, such as absorption, scattering and refraction, are expected from observations of radio emission regionsat distances between 1 and 0.3 AU. |
1975 | 2.0M |
E6 Cosmic-Ray Particles
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E6 (German) | Original instrument paper for experiment E6, written in German. The University of Kiel Experiment on board the solar probe HEL/OS (Experiment No. 6) measures high energy charged cosmic ray particles of solar, planetary and galactic origin in interplanetary space. Within the Earth orbit the interplanetary space will be investigated down to distances of 0.3 AU from the Sun. |
1975 | 4.3M |
E7 Cosmic Ray Instrument
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E7 (English) | Original instrument paper for experiment E7, written in English. This paper describes the design and performance of a cosmicray particle experiment, E7. Both sets of missions use several solid-state detector telescopes to measure protons from ~ 100 KeV to ~ 800 MeV per nucleon. Additionally, E7 includes a proportional counter to monitor the solar X-ray activity. |
1975 | 2.0M |
E8 Low Energy Electron and Proton Detector
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E8 (German) | Original instrument paper for experiment E8, written in German. The purpose of E8 is to investigate the origin of low-energy electrons and protons and their distribution mechanism. E8 is comprised of three separate units: the magneto-spectrometer, the analog electronics unit, and the digital electronics unit. The design is described in detail and first flight results are presented. |
1975 | 3.3M |
E9 Zodiacal Light Photometer
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E9 (English) | Original instrument paper for experiment E9, written in English. E9 consists of 3 photometers to measure the zodiacal light. Intensity and polarization of zodiacal light is measured in three wavelength bands. Measures of stray light reduction are discussed and optical and mechanical parameters are given. Pulse counting technique is used and data handling within the experiment is described. The stability of the sensors during the first 130 days of the mission is discussed. |
1975 | 2.0M |
E10 Micrometeroid (Dust) Detector and Analyzer
| Title | Description/Abstract | Date | Size | Type |
| Raumfahrtsforschung E10 (German) | Original instrument paper for experiment E10, written in German. The micrometeoroid experiment aims to measure mass, speed, direction, chemical composition, and charge of cosmic dust particles. They are detected by the plasma produced upon impact on a solid target. The mounting of the experiment sensors to the spacecraft is shown. The measuring principle of the experiment is explained by discussing the schematic cross section of its sensors. Special attention is given to the interpretation of the quantities measured, which is needed to derive the informations on the micrometeoroids mentioned above. Also the sensitivity range of the experiment is shown. |
1975 | 2.0M |
User Guide
The amount of documentation for each experiment varies. Most of our documentation is focused on experiments E1, E2, E3, and E4: the experiments our team has worked on reanalyzing. We have a very sparse collection of documents for the other experiments (E5A - E9). Documents are first sorted by experiment: experiment titles are collapsible tabs. Then the instrument documents are laid out in a table with the following column names:
- Title contains the document's author, title, and language if it is not in English or if it has been translated.
- Description/Abstract summarizes the contents of the document: an abstract is copied and/or modified into this section. When an abstract is not available, we include a brief description. Also, note will be included when a document has been translated.
- Date contains the year the document was written or published.
- Size is the size of a file, in bytes.
- Type describes the document's file type, most of which should be PDF.