Quadrupole ion/neutral mass spectrometer for space shuttle applications

About this book

A Quadrupole Ion/Neutral Mass Spectrometer (QINMS) was developed for the fourth flight of the Space Shuttle in June and July of 1982. Several additional instruments have been built for other programs using the same design. The instruments are designed to measure the neutral and positive ion composition in the vicinity of the Space Shuttle or similar satellites. Other experimental capabilities include the measurements of total neutral pressure, total ion density, and species kinetic energy distributions. This report describes in detail the design and construction of the QINMS instruments, the integration requirements, ground testing and calibration procedures, typical flight operations, and finally, data requirements.