MATS (Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy) is a Swedish satellite mission designed to investigate atmospheric gravity waves. In order to observe wave patterns, MATS observes structures in the O2 atmospheric band airglow (light emitted by oxygen molecules in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere), as well as structures in noctilucent clouds (NLCs) which form around the mesopause. The main instrument is a telescope that continuously captures high-resolution images of the atmospheric limb. Using tomographic analysis of the acquired images, the MATS mission can reconstruct waves in three dimensions and provide a comprehensive global map of the properties of gravity waves. The data provided by the MATS satellite will thus be three-dimensional fields of airglow and NLC properties in 200 km-wide (across track) strips along the orbit at altitudes of 70 to 110 km. By adding spectroscopic analysis, by separating light into six distinct wavelength channels, it also becomes possible to derive temperature and microphysical NLC properties. Based on those data fields, further analysis will yield gravity wave parameters, such as the wavelengths, amplitudes, phase, and direction of the waves, on a global scale. The MATS satellite, funded by the Swedish National Space Agency, was launched in November 2022 into a 580 km sun-synchronous orbit with a 17.25 local time of the ascending node (LTAN). This paper accompanies the public release of the Level 1b (v. 1.0) dataset from the MATS limb imager. The purpose of the paper is to provide background information in order to assist users to correctly and efficiently handle the data. As such, it details the image processing and how instrumental artefacts are handled. It also describes the calibration efforts that have been carried out on the basis of laboratory and in-flight observations, and it discusses uncertainties that affect the dataset.

The Radio & Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI) onboard the ESA JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) is described in detail. The RPWI provides an elaborate set of state-of-the-art electromagnetic fields and cold plasma instrumentation, including active sounding with the mutual impedance and Langmuir probe sweep techniques, where several different types of sensors will sample the thermal plasma properties, including electron and ion densities, electron temperature, plasma drift speed, the near DC electric fields, and electric and magnetic signals from various types of phenomena, e.g., radio and plasma waves, electrostatic acceleration structures, induction fields etc. A full wave vector, waveform, polarization, and Poynting flux determination will be achieved. RPWI will enable characterization of the Jovian radio emissions (including goniopolarimetry) up to 45 MHz, has the capability to carry out passive radio sounding of the ionospheric densities of icy moons and employ passive sub-surface radar measurements of the icy crust of these moons. RPWI can also detect micrometeorite impacts, estimate dust charging, monitor the spacecraft potential as well as the integrated EUV flux. The sensors consist of four 10 cm diameter Langmuir probes each mounted on the tip of 3 m long booms, a triaxial search coil magnetometer and a triaxial radio antenna system both mounted on the 10.6 m long MAG boom, each with radiation resistant pre-amplifiers near the sensors. There are three receiver boards, two Digital Processing Units (DPU) and two Low Voltage Power Supply (LVPS) boards in a box within a radiation vault at the centre of the JUICE spacecraft. Together, the integrated RPWI system can carry out an ambitious planetary science investigation in and around the Galilean icy moons and the Jovian space environment. Some of the most important science objectives and instrument capabilities are described here. RPWI focuses, apart from cold plasma studies, on the understanding of how, through electrodynamic and electromagnetic coupling, the momentum and energy transfer occur with the icy Galilean moons, their surfaces and salty conductive sub-surface oceans. The RPWI instrument is planned to be operational during most of the JUICE mission, during the cruise phase, in the Jovian magnetosphere, during the icy moon flybys, and in particular Ganymede orbit, and may deliver data from the near surface during the final crash orbit.

The atmosphere of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io consists of mainly sulfur dioxide (SO2), and this main constituent has been studied with a variety of observing techniques across many wavelengths over the years. Here we study absorption by SO2 at the hydrogen Ly-alpha line (1216 angstrom) in a large set of images taken by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) between 1997 and 2018. An advanced statistical analysis using a Monte-Carlo trial method is applied to derive the SO2 column density from the Ly-alpha intensity, which includes the uncertainties of the used variables such as solar and background flux. Our analysis produces a probability distribution function of the SO2 column density and highlights some short-comings of the observing technique. Most importantly, the HST/STIS images of the surface-reflected Ly-alpha flux are only sensitive to SO2 column densities between similar to 10(15) cm(-2) and similar to 5x10(16) cm(-2) . Due to strong non-linearity in the relationship between the SO2 abundance and the Ly-alpha flux at the low and high values of detected flux, SO2 abundance directly retrieved from the STIS images will generally fall within these boundaries. This explains the relatively low equatorial column density of about 10(16) cm(-2) reported by previous studies using the Ly-alpha images (e.g., Feldman et al., 2000; Feaga et al., 2009) compared to other studies (e.g., Spencer et al., 2005; Tsang et al., 2013; Jessup and Spencer, 2015; Lellouch et al., 2015), where the obtained column density is often 10(17) cm(-2). By assuming a log-normal probability distribution function for the column density, a new estimate of the SO2 column density is then fitted, indirectly accounting for abundances beyond the detectability limits. This method suggests slightly higher equatorial SO2 abundances and much larger upper-limits, revealing that the Ly-alpha observations are in fact consistent with the higher abundances found in other studies. We then investigate the SO2 abundances at three volcanic sites (Loki, Marduk, Thor), where plumes were observed before and where the sensitivity in our images is comparably high. The observations did not reveal transient changes due to local outgassing at any of the three sites. Finally, the heliocentric distance of Io changed from 4.95 AU to 5.45 AU between the observation dates, potentially allowing us to investigate the influence of solar intensity changes on the SO2 column density via surface frost sublimation. However, the derived error bars are significantly larger than the derived variability, preventing any firm conclusion on seasonal changes and local volcanic outgassing.

The Small Payloads for Investigation of Disturbances in Electrojet by Rockets (SPIDER) sounding rocket was launched on February 2nd, 2016 (21:09 UT), deploying 10 free falling units (FFUs) inside a westward traveling auroral surge. Each FFUs deployed spherical electric field and Langmuir probes on wire-booms, providing in situ multi-point recordings of the electric field and plasma properties. The analytical retrieval of the plasma parameters, namely the electron density, electron temperature and plasma potential, from the Langmuir probe measurements was non-trivial due to sheath effects and detailed explanation are discussed in this article. An empirical assumption on the sheath thickness was required, which was confirmed by simulating the plasma environment around the FFU using the Spacecraft Plasma Interaction Software (SPIS). In addition, the retrieved electron density and temperature are also in agreement with the simultaneous incoherent scatter radar measurements from the EISCAT facility. These two independent confirmations provided a good level of confidence in the plasma parameters obtained from the FFUs, and events observed during the flight are discussed in more details. Hints of drift-wave instabilities and increased currents inside a region of enhanced density were observed by the FFUs. Plain Language Summary This articles presents the measurements recorded by the SPIDER sounding rocket in 2016. The rocket ejected 10 free falling units inside an aurora. Each units was equipped with instruments to measure the plasma properties (density and temperature) and local electric and magnetic fields. Several technical issues occurred during the flight, limiting the usable data to only two of the units. Nonetheless, the article presents the plasma properties recorded along the trajectory of these two units, as well as comparison with plasma simulation and ground-based observation of the aurora, with cameras and radar. This provided a complete picture of the event. Although no propagating waves were observed between the two units, some interesting plasma layers with possible turbulent regimes are discussed. In conclusion, the article demonstrates the potential of multi-point measurements for auroral study, in particular for investigating waves and instabilities.

Long-term periodicities in the solar irradiance are often observed with periods proportional to the solar rotational period of 27 days. These periods are linked either to some internal mechanism in the Sun or said to be higher harmonics of the rotation without further discussion of their origin. In this article, the origin of the peaks in periodicities seen in the solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and ultraviolet (UV) irradiance around the 7, 9, and 14 days periods is discussed. Maps of the active regions and coronal holes are produced from six images per day using the Spatial Possibilistic Clustering Algorithm (SPoCA), a segmentation algorithm. Spectral irradiance at coronal, transition-region/chromospheric, and photospheric levels are extracted for each feature as well as for the full disk by applying the maps to full-disk images (at 19.3, 30.4, and 170 nm sampling in the corona/hot flare plasma, the chromosphere/transition region, and the photosphere, respectively) from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) from January 2011 to December 2018. The peaks in periodicities at 7, 9, and 14 days as well as the solar rotation around 27 days can be seen in almost all of the solar irradiance time series. The segmentation also provided time series of the active regions and coronal holes visible area (i.e. in the area observed in the AIA images, not corrected for the line-of-sight effect with respect to the solar surface), which also show similar peaks in periodicities, indicating that the periodicities are due to the change in area of the features on the solar disk rather than to their absolute irradiance. A simple model was created to reproduce the power spectral density of the area covered by active regions also showing the same peaks in periodicities. Segmentation of solar images allows us to determine that the peaks in periodicities seen in solar EUV/UV irradiance from a few days to a month are due to the change in area of the solar features, in particular, active regions, as they are the main contributors to the total full-disk irradiance variability. The higher harmonics of the solar rotation are caused by the clipping of the area signal as the regions rotate behind the solar limb.

The study of solar irradiance variability is of great importance in heliophysics, Earth's climate, and space weather applications. These studies require careful identifying, tracking and monitoring of features in the solar photosphere, chromosphere, and corona. Do coronal bright points contribute to the solar irradiance or its variability as input to the Earth atmosphere? We studied the variability of solar irradiance for a period of 10 years (May 2010 - June 2020) using the Large Yield Radiometer (LYRA), the Sun Watcher using APS and image Processing (SWAP) on board PROBA2, and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), and applied a linear model between the segmented features identified in the EUV images and the solar irradiance measured by LYRA. Based on EUV images from AIA, a spatial possibilistic clustering algorithm (SPoCA) is applied to identify coronal holes (CHs), and a morphological feature detection algorithm is applied to identify active regions (ARs), coronal bright points (BPs), and the quiet Sun (QS). The resulting segmentation maps were then applied on SWAP images, images of all AIA wavelengths, and parameters such as the intensity, fractional area, and contribution of ARs/CHs/BPs/QS features were computed and compared with LYRA irradiance measurements as a proxy for ultraviolet irradiation incident to the Earth atmosphere. We modeled the relation between the solar disk features (ARs, CHs, BPs, and QS) applied to EUV images against the solar irradiance as measured by LYRA and the F10.7 radio flux. A straightforward linear model was used and corresponding coefficients computed using a Bayesian method, indicating a strong influence of active regions to the EUV irradiance as measured at Earth's atmosphere. It is concluded that the long- and short-term fluctuations of the active regions drive the EUV signal as measured at Earth's atmosphere. A significant contribution from the bright points to the LYRA irradiance could not be found.

It is of great interest and importance to study the variabilities of solar EUV, UV and X-ray irradiance in heliophysics, in Earth's climate, and space weather applications. A careful study is required to identify, track, monitor and segment the different coronal features such as active regions (ARs), coronal holes (CHs), the background regions (BGs) and the X-ray bright points (XBPs) from spatially resolved full-disk images of the Sun. Variability of solar soft X-ray irradiance is studied for a period of 13 years (February 2007-March 2020, covers Solar Cycle 24), using the X-Ray Telescope on board the Hinode (Hinode/XRT) and GOES (1 - 8 angstrom). The full-disk X-ray images observed in Al_mesh filter from XRT are used, for the first time, to understand the solar X-ray irradiance variability measured, Sun as a star, by GOES instrument. An algorithm in Python has been developed and applied to identify and segment coronal X-ray features (ARs, CHs, BGs, and XBPs) from the full-disk soft X-ray observations of Hinode/XRT. The segmentation process has been carried out automatically based on the intensity level, morphology and sizes of the X-ray features. The total intensity, area, and contribution of ARs/CHs/BGs/XBPs features were estimated and compared with the full-disk integrated intensity (FDI) and GOES (1 - 8 angstrom) X-ray irradiance measurements. The XBPs have been identified and counted automatically over the full disk to investigate their relation to solar magnetic cycle. The total intensity of ARs/CHs/BGs/XBPs/FD regions are compared with the GOES (1 - 8 angstrom) X-ray irradiance variations. We present the results obtained from Hinode/XRT full-disk images (in Al_mesh filter) and compare the resulting integrated full-disk intensity (FDI) with GOES X-ray irradiance. The X-ray intensity measured over ARs/CHs/BGs/XBPs/FD is well correlated with GOES X-ray flux. The contributions of the segmented X-ray features to FDI and X-ray irradiance variations are determined. It is found that the background and active regions have a greater impact on the X-ray irradiance fluctuations. The mean contribution estimated for the whole observed period of the background regions (BGs) will be around 65 +/- 10.97%, whereas the ARs, XBPs and CHs are 30 +/- 11.82%, 4 +/- 1.18% and 1 +/- 0.52%, respectively, to total solar X-ray flux. We observed that the area and contribution of ARs and CHs varies with the phase of the solar cycle, whereas the BGs and XBPs show an anti-correlation. We find that the area of the coronal features is highly variable suggesting that their area has to be taken into account in irradiance models, in addition to their intensity variations. The time series results of XBPs suggest for an existence of anti-correlation between the number of XBPs and the sunspot numbers. It is also important to consider both the number variation and the contribution of XBPs in the reconstruction of total solar X-ray irradiance variability.

A first sounding rocket campaign dedicated to investigate the creation mechanism of Polar Mesosphere Winter Echoes (PMWE) was conducted in April 2018 from the north Norwegian Andaya Space Center (69 degrees N, 16 degrees E). Two instrumented sounding rockets were launched on 13th and 18th of April under PMWE and non-PMWE conditions, respectively. In this paper we give an overview of the PMWE sounding rocket mission. We describe and discuss some results of combined in situ and ground-based measurements which allow to verify existing PMWE theories. Our measurements ultimately show that: a) polar winter mesosphere is abounded with meteor smoke particles (MSP) and intermittent turbulent layers, b) all PMWE observed during this campaign can be explained by neutral air turbulence, c) turbulence creates small-scale structures in all D-region constituents, including free electrons; d) MSP ultimately influence the radar volume reflectivity by distorting the turbulence spectrum of electrons, e) the influence of MSP and of background electron density is just to increase SNR.

Several recent studies derived the existence of plumes on Jupiter's moon Europa. The only technique that provided multiple detections is the far-ultraviolet imaging observations of Europa in transit of Jupiter taken by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). In this study, we reanalyze the three HST/STIS transit images in which Sparks et al. identified limb anomalies as evidence for Europa's plume activity. After reproducing the results of Sparks et al., we find that positive outliers are similarly present in the images as the negative outliers that were attributed to plume absorption. A physical explanation for the positive outliers is missing. We then investigate the systematic uncertainties and statistics in the images and identify two factors that are crucial when searching for anomalies around the limb. One factor is the alignment between the actual and assumed locations of Europa on the detector. A misalignment introduces distorted statistics, most strongly affecting the limb above the darker trailing hemisphere where the plumes were detected. The second factor is a discrepancy between the observation and the model used for comparison, adding uncertainty in the statistics. When accounting for these two factors, the limb minima (and maxima) are consistent with random statistical occurrence in a sample size given by the number of pixels in the analyzed limb region. The plume candidate features in the three analyzed images can be explained by purely statistical fluctuations and do not provide evidence for absorption by plumes.

A central challenge in the modeling of the near-collisionless expansion of a plasma thruster plume into vacuum is the inadequacy of traditional fluid closure relations for the electron species, such as isothermal or adiabatic laws, because the electron response in the plume is essentially kinetic and global. This work presents the validation of the kinetic plasma plume model presented in (Merino et al 2018 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 27 035013) against the experimental plume measurements of a SPT-100-ML Hall thruster running on xenon presented in (Giono et al 2018 Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 27 015006). The model predictions are compared against the experimentally-determined axial profiles of electric potential, electron density, and electron temperature, and the radial electric potential profile, for 6 different test cases, in the far expansion region between 0.5 and 1.5 m away from the thruster exit. The model shows good agreement with the experimental data and the error is within the experimental uncertainty. The extrapolation of the model to the thruster exit plane and far downstream is consistent with the expected trends with varying discharge voltage and mass flow rate. The lumped-model value of the polytropic cooling exponent gamma is similar for all test cases and varies in the range 1.26-1.31.