Calculating and Examining Electric Fields in the Venusian Plasma Environment using PSP

Authors: Dylan Conner (WVU), Katherine Goodrich (WVU), Justin Bowman (WVU), Justin Riggs (WVU)

Parker Solar Probe, while engaging in a gravity assist maneuver with Venus, took observational data for several plasma quantities, including differential voltages, ion velocities, and magnetic fields. By using these observations from PSP, we can calculate DC electric fields in this Venusian plasma environment and analyze them. However, due to the instrumental requirements necessary for PSP to observe near the Sun, the calculation of these electric fields can be difficult; so, it is necessary to implement specialized calibration and analysis of PSP electric field data for said plasma environment. We present the first steps in an effort to create fully calibrated electric fields specifically at Venus with PSP, using a comparison of –(vxB) methods with both SPC and SPAN-Ion instruments on PSP.