Interstellar Dust Experiment (IDEX) Onboard NASA’s Interstellar Mapping And Acceleration Probe (IMAP)
M. Horányi, Scott Tucker, Z. Sternovsky, Kush Tyagi, S. Knappmiller, Ethan Ayari, Rebecca Mikula, J. R. Szalay, S. Kempf, Chip Bollendonk, R. S. Gurnee, Melanie Fisher, Delphine McCann, Luisa Coakley, Scott Gurst, Kristina Davis, Susan Bramer, Marc Miller, Joel Neher, Gregory Newcomb, Samuel Oberg, Jeffrey Sayler, Stacy Wade, Teresa Deaton, Alex Doner, John Fontanese, E. Grün, Colin Miller, R. Wing, Lee Holguin, Max Fowle, Tim Hellickson, Asher Rhode, N. Brennan, Doug Hansen, Darren O’Connor, Alec Kostovny, Sam Shaver, Karen Looney, N. Turner, Jon Hillier, Frank Postberg, R. Srama, E. R. Christian, M. Gkioulidou, D. J. McComas, N. A. Schwadron
Abstract
Abstract The Interstellar Dust Experiment (IDEX) onboard NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) is dedicated to measuring the flux, size distribution, and composition of Interstellar (ISD) and Interplanetary (IDP) Dust Particles while stationed at Lagrange point L1 of the Earth-Sun system. IDEX is an impact ionization Time-of-Flight (TOF) mass spectrometer that measures the elemental and/or molecular and selected isotopic composition of impacting dust particles. Due to its high sensitivity and large detection area, IDEX is expected to detect and analyze approximately 200 ISD and 1250 IDP particles over the first two years of the mission.