Measurement of plasma parameters in solar wind and in shock waves

A method is described of fast serial measurements and data processing of the energy distribution function of solar wind ions. The method was applied for the Prognoz 8 Satellite as part of the MONITOR experiment. In this experiment, electrostatic energy analysers were used for ions with energies ranging from 0.16 to 4.2 keV as was a three-collector Faraday cup to measure the total ion flux of the solar wind and its arrival angle. The distribution function measurements were made with a high time resolution of about 1 s. The measurements show that considerable deformations of the distribution function take place in a shock wave and magnetosheath in time intervals comparable with the period of measurement. The form of the energy spectra measured may be explained in some measurements by the simultaneous existence of several fluxes of charged particles of different directions and velocities. (author)