A Brief History of Space MS

We have only covered the signal-to-noise problem several others must be solved simultaneously. Since space is a vacuum, one cannot cool the electronics or power supplies with a fan, but must ensure that thermal contact direct the heat to the spacecraft radiators. Solid state detectors (SSD) (see Section 2.3.5), uncommon in laboratory MS, are often used in space to get an additional energy signal from the ion impact, and these detectors must not go above 30°C. Likewise, fast electronics are often power hungry, and all that power must be dissipated as heat. More than one space MS has failed for thermal reasons. 

Not only must space MS be compact, low power, and autonomously operated, but they must survive launch by rocket. The trend over the past few decades has been toward solid-fueled rockets or boosters that have a much rougher ride than liquid-fueled rockets. Over-zealous specifications often require that space MS survive 15 g of random shake acceleration, which is about like lifting the instrument 10 cm and dropping it on the floor repeatedly. All those shims in a magnetic sector MS must be capable of being realigned in space, perhaps with stepper motors, which is what ESA had to fly in its 2011 comet mission [19]. Likewise, carbon foil technology took an additional 10 years to fly after it had been developed in the laboratory, primarily to ensure that it survived launch. 

For all these reasons and more, space MS has been an expensive challenge, but one with many accomplishments. 

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