(Analyzer of Space Plasma and Energetic Atoms)

The Team

Principal Investigator Prof. Rickard Lundin (IRF, Principal Investigator, -2014)

  • Director of the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (1994-2003)
  • Professor in Space Physics at the University of Umeå (1989)

Prof. Lundin represents the single point formal interface with the ESA Mars Express Project Office for scientific and general matters. He has supervised all experiment definition, instrument design and development, and support for mission operations. The Professor was also responsible for supplying the experiment, support equipment, documentation, and required software. His experience includes be PI for about ten hot plasma experiments using the sounding rockets, PROMICS/Prognoz-7, PROMICS/Prognoz-8, the hot plasma experiment on Viking, ASPERA/Phobos, ASPER-C/Mars-96, IMI/Planet-B, and ICA/Rosetta. Prof. Lundin was also the Co-I on hot plasma experiments for Freja, Equator-S, and Cluster and Project Scientist for the Swedish Freja satellite.

Principal Investigator Assoc. Prof. Mats Holmström (IRF, Principal Investigator, 2014-)

  • PhD in Scientific Computing at Uppsala University. Sweden (1993)
  • Scientist at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna

Prof. Holmström holds MSc degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Houston (Texas, USA) and in Engineering Physics from Uppsala University.  Before assuming the Principal Investigator duties, Prof. Holmström was the operational manager for ASPERA-3.  He now coordinates and directs the science activities for ASPERA-3 and is the interface with the ESA Mars Express Project Office for scientific and general matters.  Prof. Holmström has more then 200 papers dealing with unmagnetized or weekly magnetized planets.

Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Stanislav Barabash (IRF)

  • Scientist at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna
  • PhD in Space Physics at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna (1996)
  • Depuity Director of the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (2005-2016)
  • Director of the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (2016-)

Dr. Barabash participated as Co-I in the Mars plasma experiments ASPERA/Phobos-1, ASPERA/Phobos-2, PROMICS/Interball-Auroral, PROMICS/Interball-Tail and ASPERA-C/Mars-96. He has also acted as PI for the ENA instrument PIPPI/Astrid-1 and the ENA detector DINA/nanosatellite Munin. His experience also includes instrument design, data analysis, and theory. He is responsible for coordinating the ASPERA-3 development and will be the Hardware-providing Co-I.

Experiment Manager (-2000)
Joakim Gimholt

Mr. Gimholt has participated in several experiment development efforts such as Freja, Astrid-1, Mars-96, Planet-B and Rosetta. He coordinated the hardware and software efforts of all segments of ASPERA-3 and interface with the responsible engineers at the Co-I institutions. The Experiment Manager is the single-point formal interface with the ESA Mars Express Project Office for technical matters.

Experiment Manager (2000-)
Herman Andersson

Mr. Andersson is the Technical Group Executive Manager at he Swedish Institute of Space Physics,
Kiruna, and coordinated the hardware and software efforts of all segments of ASPERA-3.
As a Research and Development Engineer and Project Manager at IRF-Kiruna, he has participated as
lead electrical engineer, project assurance manager or experiment manager in satellite projects
such as Interball-1, -2 and -3, Viking, Phobos-1 and -2, Freja, Mars-96 and Rosetta. Mr. Andersson
coordinates the hardware and software efforts of all segments of ASPERA-3 and interfaces with the
responsible engineers at the CoI institutions. Mr Andersson represents the single-point formal
interface for technical matters with the ESA Mars Express Project Office.

Prof. Rickard Lundin (see Team tab)

Dr. Stanislav Barabash (see Team tab)

Assoc. Prof. Mats Holmström (see Team tab)

Riccardo Cerulli-Irelli (IFSI)

  • Research Staff Member at the Italian Research Council Instituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario
  • ‘Laurea’ in physics at the Rome University (1967)

Experience: Plasma experiments HEOS-2/S-202 (tests, management), EGD/ISEE-2 (project manager), plasma composition experiment for the NASA cometary mission (design), plasma composition experiment JPA/Giotto (project manager), ISO/LWS-DPU (digital electronics design), Equator-s/CIS (management and design), SAC-B/ISENA (project manager), and TSS-1R/RENE (team member).

Andrew Coates (MSSL)

  • Professor of Physics and Deputy Director, University College London Mullard Space Science Laboratory
  • PhD in in Plasma Physics from Oxford University (1982)

ExoMars 2020/PanCam Principal Investigator (PI), lead investigator (PI) Beagle 2 stereo camera system, lead Co-Investigator (Co-I) Cassini CAPS electron spectrometer, lead Co-I Venus Express ASPERA-4 Electron Spectrometer, Co-I Mars Express ASPERA-3, Co-I Rosetta Plasma Consortium, Co-I JUICE PEP, Co-I BepiColombo MPPE, Co-I Cluster-PEACE, Co-I Double Star Peace, Co-I Magnetospheric Multi-Scale (MMS) Fast Plasma Instrument (FPI), Co-I Mars 2020 MastCam-Z, Co-I Giotto Johnstone Plasma Analyser (JPA), Co-I AMPTE-UKS ion experiment.

Charles Curtis (UA)

  • Research Associate Professor at the University of Arizona
  • PhD in Physics, University of Arizona (1978)

Experience: Designer of FIS (Field Ionization mass Spectrometer) and EIS (Electron Impact mass Spectrometer) sensors for the VEGA probes to Comet Halley. Project manager for the development of the EUV Imager for NASA’s IMAGE mission.

Andrei Fedorov (IKI)

  • Senior Scientist at Space Research Institute (IKI), Moscow
  • M.Sc. in Experimental Nuclear Physics, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (1980)

Experience: Design, simulation, development, and calibration of plasma instrumentation. Data analysis and data analysis software. Design and development of the calibration facility. PI for the ion spectrometers TRIPLET and VDP/Interball. Co-I on the plasma analyzers BIFRAM/Intershock, CORALL/Interball, FONEMA/Mars-96 and ENA detector DINA/Swedish nanosatellite Munin.

Rudy Frahm (SwRI)

  • Principal Scientist at Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX
  • PhD in Space Physics and Astronomy, Rice University (1987)

Experience: Design, development, calibration, and flight operations of electron and ions instruments on UARS/MEPS, TSS/SPES, DMSP/SSJ/4, and numerous sounding rockets.

Manuel Grande (RAL)

  • Leader of Experimental Solar System Physics Group at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
  • PhD in Cosmic Ray Physics at Bristol University (1986)

Experience: Deputy PI in RAPID/Cluster, and Co-I in CAPS/Cassini, PEACE/Cluster, and Cammice/GGS/POLAR. Co-I and hardware contributor to a number of recent ENA Imaging Missions, including GGS/POLAR Ceppad, ISENA/SAC-B, and MENA/IMAGE.

Ke Chiang Hsieh (UA)

  • Professor at the University of Arizona, Tucson
  • PhD in Physics at the University of Chicago (1969)

Experience: Development of energetic neutral atom detectors and imagers since 1979. PI for the neutral gas mass analyzers for Soviet VEGA mission to Comet Halley. Original instrument lead of the High Energy Neutral Atom imager for NASA’s IMAGE Mission. Co-I on CELIAS/SOHO, MIMI/Cassini, and HENA/IMAGE.

Esa Kallio (FMI)

  • Scientist at the Geophysical Research Division of the Finnish Meteorological Institute
  • PhD in 1996 with the thesis “Mars-Solar Wind Interaction: Ion Observations and their Interpretation”

Experience: Data analysis of ion mass spectrometer Phobos/SPERA, analysis of ENA production at Mars.

Hannu Koskinen (FMI)

  • Professor in Space Physics, University of Helsinki; Geophysical Research, The Finnish Meteorological Institute
  • PhD at the Swedish Insititute of Space Physics, Uppsala (1985)

Experience: Data analysis of ion mass spectrometer Phobos/ASPERA, Co-I on ion and ENA spectrometer Mars-96/ASPERA-C (leader of the FMI participation, DPU H/W and S/W): Co-I on ENA imager Astrid-1/PIPPI).

Janet Kozyra (SPRL)

  • Associate Research Scientist at Space Physics Research Laboratory, University of Michigan
  • PhD in Atmospheric Sciences, University of Michigan (1986)

Experience: Theory and modeling of the ionosphere-magnetosphere coupling processes. Participation in the data analysis in the DE, AMPTE/CCE programs. Interdisciplinary Scientist in the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetic and Dynamics (TIMED) mission. Specific research areas include, within others, neutral atom and ion precipitation and loss model for ring current decay.

Norbert Krupp (MPAe)

  • Scientific Staff member at Max-Planck-Institut for Aeronomie, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany -PhD, University of Florence (1982)

Experience: Scientific analysis and interpretation of particle and magnetometer data from ULYSSES and GALILEO. Science team member of the MIMI instrument on CASSINI.

Dave Linder (MSSL)

  • Programme Manager, University College London Mullard Space Science Laboratory

Co-Investigator (Co-I) Cassini CAPS electron spectrometer, lead Co-I Venus Express ASPERA-4 Electron Spectrometer, Co-I Mars Express ASPERA-3, Co-I Rosetta Plasma Consortium, Co-I JUICE PEP, Co-I BepiColombo MPPE, Co-I Cluster-PEACE, Co-I Double Star Peace.

Stefano Livi (MPAe)

  • Scientific Staff member at Max-Planck-Institut for Aeronomie, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
  • PhD, University of Florence (1982)

Experience: Co-PI of the ion composition experiment CAMMICE on POLAR and the magnetosphere imaging instrument MIMI on CASSINI, leading Co-I on the TOF-mass spectrometer RTOF/ROSINA on ROSETTA, Co-I on in-situ and remote sensing of plasmas on the AMPTE, PHOBOS, CRRES, GALILEO, ULYSSES, GEOTAIL, SOHO, POLAR, and CLUSTER 2 GIOTTO missions. Scientific analysis of in-situ ion composition and energetic ion data.

Janet Luhmann (SSL)

  • Senior Fellow at the Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California in Berkeley
  • PhD in Astronomy, the University of Maryland (1974)

Experience: Theory, modeling, and data analysis concentrated on the solar wind interaction with the weakly magnetized planets, Venus and Mars. Responsible for Pioneer Venus magnetometer data analysis. Co-I on two POLAR experiments. She is also a member of the ion-neutral mass spectrometer facility instrument team on Cassini.

Olle Norberg (IRF)

  • Scientist at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna
  • M.Sc. in Engineering Physics at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (1988)

Experience: Co-I on Phobos, Freja, Mars-96, and Planet-B. Project Scientist and PI on Astrid-1, Astrid-2, and Munin. Co-I on the Ion Composition Analyzer on Rosetta. Experienced in managing large collaborative projects and design and calibration of plasma analyzers.

Stefano Orsini (IFSI)

  • Research Staff Member at the Italian Research Council Instituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (ricercatore)
  • ‘Laurea’ in physics at the University of Rome (1976)

Experience: Co-I on plasma experiments ISEE-2/EGD (scientific data analysis), INTERBALL/OPERA (software and EGSE), TSS-1,and TSS-1R/TEMAC. PI on the ENA instrument ISENA/SAC-b.

Edmond Roelof (APL)

  • Principal Professional Staff, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
  • PhD, University of California, Berkeley (1966)

Experience: Theory and analysis of data on energetic charged particles and ENA imaging. Co-I on Pioneer 10/11:Cosmic Ray Energy Spectra Experiment, Galileo/EPD, Ulysses/SPECAM, Geotail/EPIC, Cassini/INCA, TWINS, and Astrid/Energetic neutral atom imagers.

Bill Sandel (UA)

  • Senior Research Scientist at Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona
  • PhD in Space Science, Rice University (1972)

Experience: PI for the UV intensifiers in the Auroral Imager for Viking and the EUV Imager on IMAGE. Co-I on UVS/Voyager and UVS/EUV/Galileo. Development of advanced photon-counting array detectors for eight Shuttle experiments, an EUV-FUV telescope to study stars, and the Jupiter system.

Jean-Andre Sauvand (CESR)

  • Director of Research at CNRS and Head of the solar system department at CESR
  • Docteur es Sciences from the University of Toulouse (1977)

Experience: Instrument design, data analysis, and project management. Co-I on various space missions including ARCAD 1,2, and 3, ISEE-1 and -2, Giotto, Mars-96, MOM, MGS, and Cluster. PI on the two Interball satellites.

James Sharber (SwRI)

  • Staff Scientist at Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas
  • PhD in Physics from Texas A & M University (1972)

Experience: Analysis of data from rocket flights as well as the ISIS, DE, NOAA, Viking, and UARS satellites. Co-I on UARS and Cluster. PI for particle detectors on PULSAUR II, four ARIA (Atmospheric Response In Aurora) campaigns, and those being built for the Svalbard Cusp Transient Features Campaign to be launched late in 1997.

Donald Williams (APL)

  • Chief Scientist at Milton S. Eisenhower Research Center, Applied Physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins Univerisity
  • PhD, Yale University (1961)

Experience: PI and Co-I on a large number of NASA, NOAA, DoD, and European research and operational satellites including acting as PI on Galileo/EPD and Geotail/EPIC particle detectors.

David Winningham (SwRI)

  • Institute Scientist at Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas
  • PhD in Physics from Texas A & M University (1970)

Experience: PI for the plasma instruments on DE-2, PEM/UARS, plasma analyzers on Giotto, TSS-1, TSS-1R, numerous sounding rockets, and on AFGL data analysis contracts. Co-I on electron and ion spectrometers for ISIS-1/2 DE-1, and numerous sounding rockets. His responsibilities in all of these programs have included instrument development and data analysis.

Joahim Woch (MPAe)

  • Scientific Staff member at Max-Planck-Institut for Aeronomie, Katlenburg-Lindau
  • PhD at University of Gottingen, Institute of Geophysics (1987)

Experience: Co-I on the experiments SWICS and EPAC on ULYSSES, PROMICS on Interball, RAPID on Cluster 2, and ROSINA on Rosetta. Scientific data analysis and interpretation of particle and magnetometer data from GEOS, Viking, Ulysses, Polar and Galileo.

Peter Wurz (UBe)

  • Professor Director of Department of Space Science and Planetology University of Bern, Switzerland
  • PhD Technical University of Vinnea, Austra (1990)

Co-Investigator (Co-I) CELIAS/SOHO, Co-I LENA/IMAGE, Lead Scientist of RTOF ROSINA/Rosetta, Co-I ASPERA-3/MEx, Co-I PLASTIC/STEREO, Co-I ASPERA-4/VEx, Co-I NPA-IS/SERENA on MPO/BepiColombo, Co-I ENA on MMO/BepiColombo, Co-I IBEX-Lo/IBEX, Co-I SARA/Chandrayaan-1, Principal Investigator (PI) P-BACE/MEAP, Co-PI LASMA/Phobos-Grunt, PI NGMS on Luna-Resurs and Luna-Glob, Co-PI LASMA on Luna-Resurs and Luna-Glob, Co-I HIS/SWA on Solar Orbiter, Co-PI PEP/JUICE, Co-I IMAP-Lo/IMAP, Co-PI MANIaC/Comet Interceptor.

Masatoshi Yamauchi (IRF)

  • Scientific Staff at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna
  • PhD in Space Physics from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (1990)

Experience: Analysis of data from Magsat, Viking, Freja, and Ulysses spacecraft. Co_i for IMI instrument for Planet-B spacecraft (test and calibration). Analytical theories and MHD.

Joakim Gimholt (IRF, Experiment Manager)

  • Project Manager and R&D Engineer at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics
  • M.Sc. in Computer Science and Engineering, Lule Technical University (1991)

Experience: Electronics and mechanics design, vacuum and cryogenic technology, particle detector development/design/testing, and project management. Leading electrical engineer of ASPERA-C/Mars-96, IMIS/Planet-B, IMI/Freja, PIPPI/Astrid-1, MEDUSA/Astrid-2. Quality Assurance Manager for the ICA/Rosetta. Overall management of the thermal-vacuum and calibration facilities at IRF and test coordination for Astrid, Freja, and Cassini (sub-units).

Kjell Lundin (IRF)

  • Head of the electronics group at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna

Experience: Space plasma instruments (all aspects), project management. More that 25 years experience in space projects starting from ESRO-4. At the present, Technical Manger of the ICA experiment for the ESA Rosetta mission.

Herman Andersson (IRF)

  • Senior Research engineer at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics.

Experience: Development, design, and testing of particle detecting instruments and ground support equipment, including design of electronics and mechanical systems and project manager. Participated as lead electrical engineer, project assurance manager or experiment manager in satellite projects such as Interball-1,2 & 3, Viking, Phobos-1&2, Freja, Mars-96,Rosetta, and national sounding rocket projects.

Pekka Riihel (FMI)

  • Design engineer at the Finnish Meteorological Institute

Experience: Digital electronics design. Participation in the projects Phobos/ASPERA (memory unit), Interball/PROMICS-3 (part of the DPU electronics), Mar-96/ASPERA-C (DPU), Astrid-1(data compression unit), Rosetta/ICA&LAP (DPU), and Rosetta Lander/CDMS (memory unit).

Jouni Ryn (FMI)

  • Design engineer at the Finnish Meteorological Institute
  • M.Sc.

Experience: Flight software development and data Compression. Participation in the projects Mars-96/ASPERA-C (design, coding, and tests of flight software), Astrid-1 (data compression software), and Startdust/CIDA (flight software).

John Scherrer (SwRI)

  • Senior Program Manager at Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas
  • MBA, University of Texas at San Antonio (1986)

Experience: Electronics packaging, vacuum technology, and particle detector design and testing. Participation in programs UARS, GGS, SEPAC, TSS, Wakeshield, and Comet. Leading mechanical engineer and project manager for plasma particle detectors including MAIMIK SPI, Polar ARCS AREA, ARIA SPS, and the CENTAUR sounding rocket payloads. Project manager and mechanical engineer of the analyzer MEDUSA for Astrid-2.

Sandee Jeffers (SwRI)

  • Staff Analyst at Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas
  • M.Sc. in Computer Science/System Design, University of Texas at San Antonio (1991)

Experience: Scientific software development and data management. Author of the UARS/PEM data production processing software system. Responsible for developing and managing various data processing and analysis software systems for scientific research.

Jean-Lois Medale (CESR)

  • Engineer at Centre d’Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements

Experience: Particle detectors and related analog electronics, TOF electronics, and MCP imaging systems. Projects include ARCAD-3, Giotto, MSG, Cluster, and Equator-S.

Donald Reading (RAL)

  • Senior Scientific Officer in the space science department at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
  • PhD in High Energy Physics

Experience: Long career as instrument physicist on numerous space and high energy experiments. Responsible for Cluster MCP testing at RAL and UV rejection filter testing for IMAGE/MENA and SAC-B/ISENA.

Elena Budnick (IKI)

  • Research staff at the Space Research Institute, Moscow
  • M.Sc. at Moscow State University (1977)

Experience: Scientific software development and data analysis. Co-I on the PROMICS-3 mass spectrometer, SKA-2/Interball, and ASPERA-C/Mars-96. Participation in the IKI-DD system development. Data analysis software for the high-energy detectors for PROGNOZ-7 and PROGNOZ-8 spacecraft.

Dhiren Kateria (MSSL)

  • Calibration lead for the ASPERA-3 Electron Spectromenter at Mullard Space Science Laboratory

Experience: Space Instrumentation and In-situ Detection Systems, sensor calibrations.  Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) Light Ion Analyser ESA-CAS/SMILE, Co-I and Suite Instrument Scientist SWA/Solar Orbiter, PI ChaPS/TechDemoSat, Technical Lead PEP/JUICE.

Carrie Gonzalez (SwRI)

  • Principal Engineer at Southwest Research Institute
  • M.S., Industrial Engineering Computer Applications emphasis, St. Mary’s University (1989)

Experience:  Real-time and post analysis processing, analysis, and imaging software development for HPCA/MMS, CLUSTER/PEACE, RAD/MSL, MENA/IMAGE, JADE/JUNO, VEx/ASPERA-4, MEx/ASPERA-3, HAPI/DE-1, LAPI/DE-2, UARS/PEM, SOC for TSS and TSS-R.