{"dataset":{"slug":"instrument-classes","title":"Instrument Classes","description":"The classes of scientific instrument — cameras, spectrometers, magnetometers, radars, altimeters, seismometers, and more.","version":"1.0.0","lastGenerated":"2026-06-29","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","entityCount":12,"sources":["nasa","esa"]},"entities":[{"id":"instrument_class:charged-particle-detector","name":"Charged-Particle Detector","type":"instrument_class","domain":"science","description":"An instrument that counts and characterises the electrons, ions, and cosmic rays of space plasmas — mapping radiation belts, the solar wind, and energetic-particle events.","entryPath":"/instruments/charged-particle-detector"},{"id":"instrument_class:dust-detector","name":"Dust Detector","type":"instrument_class","domain":"science","description":"An instrument that detects the tiny dust grains of space — from cometary and interplanetary dust to the particles of planetary rings — measuring their speed, mass, and sometimes composition.","entryPath":"/instruments/dust-detector"},{"id":"instrument_class:gamma-ray-neutron-spectrometer","name":"Gamma-Ray & Neutron Spectrometer","type":"instrument_class","domain":"science","description":"An instrument that measures the gamma rays and neutrons emitted by a surface under cosmic-ray bombardment, revealing elemental composition — and, through neutrons, the presence of water or ice.","entryPath":"/instruments/gamma-ray-neutron-spectrometer"},{"id":"instrument_class:imaging-spectrometer","name":"Imaging Spectrometer","type":"instrument_class","domain":"science","description":"An instrument that captures both an image and a spectrum for every pixel, mapping the composition of a surface or atmosphere by the wavelengths of light it reflects or emits.","entryPath":"/instruments/imaging-spectrometer"},{"id":"instrument_class:laser-altimeter","name":"Laser Altimeter (Lidar)","type":"instrument_class","domain":"science","description":"An active instrument that fires laser pulses and times their return to measure distance precisely — mapping the topography of a planet, moon, or asteroid with height accuracy of metres.","entryPath":"/instruments/laser-altimeter"},{"id":"instrument_class:magnetometer","name":"Magnetometer","type":"instrument_class","domain":"science","description":"An instrument that measures magnetic fields, revealing a planet's internal dynamo, a moon's hidden ocean, or the structure of the solar wind and magnetospheres.","entryPath":"/instruments/magnetometer"},{"id":"instrument_class:mass-spectrometer","name":"Mass Spectrometer","type":"instrument_class","domain":"science","description":"An instrument that sorts atoms and molecules by mass, identifying the chemical and isotopic makeup of a sample of gas or dust — essential for atmospheres, plumes, and returned samples.","entryPath":"/instruments/mass-spectrometer"},{"id":"instrument_class:optical-camera","name":"Optical Camera","type":"instrument_class","domain":"science","description":"An imaging instrument that records visible (and often near-infrared or ultraviolet) light — the eyes of a spacecraft, from wide-angle context cameras to high-resolution narrow-angle telescopes.","entryPath":"/instruments/optical-camera"},{"id":"instrument_class:radar","name":"Radar","type":"instrument_class","domain":"science","description":"An active instrument that transmits radio waves and analyses the echoes to map surfaces through cloud and darkness, or to probe beneath the surface. Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) achieves high resolution from orbit.","entryPath":"/instruments/radar"},{"id":"instrument_class:radio-science","name":"Radio Science","type":"instrument_class","domain":"science","description":"A technique that uses the spacecraft's own radio signal as an instrument — tracking tiny frequency shifts to weigh a planet, map its gravity field, and probe its atmosphere and rings by how they bend the signal.","entryPath":"/instruments/radio-science"},{"id":"instrument_class:seismometer","name":"Seismometer","type":"instrument_class","domain":"science","description":"An instrument that senses the tiny ground motions of quakes and impacts, probing the interior structure of a world by how seismic waves travel through it — as InSight did for Mars.","entryPath":"/instruments/seismometer"},{"id":"instrument_class:spectrometer","name":"Spectrometer","type":"instrument_class","domain":"science","description":"An instrument that splits light into its component wavelengths to reveal composition, temperature, and motion — the workhorse of remote sensing, spanning ultraviolet, visible, infrared, X-ray, and gamma-ray bands.","entryPath":"/instruments/spectrometer"}]}