The Hot Plasma Composition Analyzer for the Magnetospheric Multi-scale Mission

The Magnetospheric Multi-scale mission, due to launch in March of 2015, will probe the magnetopause and the magnetotail regions of the magnetosphere to investigate magnetic reconnection events. Each of the four spacecraft will have on-board one Hot Plasma Composition Analyzer (MMS-HPCA). These analyzers have two new technologies meant to increase the dynamic range and the mass resolution of the instrument: radio frequency (RF) proton attenuation [Birch et al. 2001], and a dual delay line time-of-flight anode. Details of instrument calibration, the calibration facility, and future applications for the new instrument technologies are presented here.