In an effort to demystify the chemical make-up of the solar wind, the Space Physics Research Laboratory (SPRL) has developed an instrument capable of accelerating particles faster than ever before onboard a spacecraft, improving their identification. Engineers in the lab designed, in collaboration with space scientists in Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, SPICES, the Solar wind Pickup Ion Composition Energy Spectrometer, which will give scientists new insights into the plasma that flows from the atmosphere of the sun out into the solar system.
SPRL Moves New SPICES Instrument Closer to Realization
