WAVES - THE RADIO AND PLASMA-WAVE INVESTIGATION ON THE WIND SPACECRAFT

The WAVES investigation on the WIND spacecraft will provide comprehens ive measurements of the radio and plasma wave phenomena which occur in Geospace. Analyses of these measurements, in coordination with the ot her onboard plasma, energetic particles, and field measurements will h elp us understand the kinetic processes that are important in the sola r wind and in key boundary regions of the Geospace. These processes ar e then to be interpreted in conjunction with results from the other IS TP spacecraft in order to discern the measurements and parameters for mass, momentum, and energy flow throughout geospace. This investigatio n will also contribute to observations of radio waves emitted in regio ns where the solar wind is accelerated. The WAVES investigation compri ses several innovations in this kind of instrumentation: among which t he first use, to our knowledge, of neural networks in real-time on boa rd a scientific spacecraft to analyze data and command observation mod es, and the first use of a wavelet transform-like analysis in real tim e to perform a spectral analysis of a broad band signal.