Instruments for ESA's Distributed Space Weather Sensor System (D3S)
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European Space Operations Center
A preliminary agenda is now available under the Timetable tab by selecting the Instrument presentation slot and viewing the session details.
The Space Weather Office of ESA’s Space Safety Programme is organizing this workshop on Instruments for its Distributed Space Weather Sensor System (D3S).
D3S has the purpose of monitoring the Earth interaction with the Sun and the actual status in the proximity of the Earth. Targeted measurements include:
- in-situ observations: the particle and plasma environment, magnetic field, microparticles
- remote sensing: the Earth's aurora, atmosphere, and the Sun itself.
The objective is to feed space weather services and the corresponding models with a data stream coming from a sufficiently well distributed sensor system. An additional task of D3S is the monitoring of microparticles (sub-mm) in space. For the cost-effective implementation of D3S in the medium-term future, ESA is planning to make use of hosted payload missions as well as dedicated small satellite systems.
We are looking forward to bringing together the European community working on instrumentation for the observation of Space Weather effects in the near-Earth environment as well as on microparticle detectors. This workshop is targeted at instrumentation with TRL 4 and above or achieving TRL 4 within the course of an ongoing activity.
Looking forward to welcoming you at ESOC,
ESA's Space Weather Team
Adriano Lupi
Alfonso Villegas
Ali Ravanbakhsh
Balazs Zabori
Chiara Palla
Christian Kintziger
Christiane Bergemann
David Fischer
Denis PAYAN
Etienne le COARER
Hualin Xiao
Indraneil Biswas
Jean RAVATIN
Jens Rodmann
Joeran Moen
JUHANI HUOVELIN
János Lichtenberger
Karl Dietrich Bunte
Mathieu Barthelemy
Melanie Heil
Michael Herbert-Guest
Nicolas Martinod
Nicolas Martinod
Olaf Hillenmaier
Patryk Socha
Rami Vainio
Robert Elftmann
Sebastien Bourdarie
Sergio Terzo
Sylvain Ranvier
Thierry Dudok de Wit
Timo A. Stein
Valerio Bocci
Valerio Vagelli
Xin Wu
Yoshifumi Futaana
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Registration
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Welcome and Introduction H-I
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European Space Operations Center
Robert-Bosch-Str. 5, 64293 Darmstadt, Germany -
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Instrument presentations H-I
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European Space Operations Center
Robert-Bosch-Str. 5, 64293 Darmstadt, Germany-
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multi-Needle Langmuir Probe invented for space weather satellites 20m
It is well known that diffraction of radio phase fronts produces amplitude and phase fluctuations even at GHz frequencies used for satellite communication and navigation systems. These scintillations are caused by naturally occurring ionospheric plasma density irregularities at scales from hundreds of meters to a few kilometres, that are generally most severe at high and low latitudes, the so-called SATCOM outage regions.
In order to monitor problem regions for GNSS services, we need to resolve electron density gradients down to meter scales. Conventional techniques for measuring electron density have insufficient sampling rates to obtain this resolution. The UiO m-NLP system concept, working on up to 10 kHz sampling rate, was originally invented for the Norwegian sounding rocket program: “Investigation of Cusp Irregularities (ICI) sounding rockets program, to investigate plasma instability key processes in connection with polar cap patches and the northern lights. Several satellite versions of the instrument have been developed, miniaturized to also fit CubeSats. The m-NLP system currently inherits flight heritage as a space weather payload onboard Norsat-1. Eidsvoll Electronics AS has space qualified the m-NLP instrument for ESA satellites through the GSTP program
It is proposed that the m-NLP system onboard a constellation of LEO satellites will have the capability to monitor turbulent ionospheric regions which can be used as input to future GNSS space weather forecast models.Speaker: Tore André Bekkeng (EIDEL) -
14:20
Radiation Monitors - Outlook 20m
Thales Alenia Space has been developing Radiation Monitors since more than 20 years with many units in orbit and operational.
Constantly driving forward the miniaturization, TAS has embarked to develop the miniRMU, a smaller, more compact Radiation Monitor based on the successful NRGM design. However the miniRMU is only one possible evolution of the NGRM design for D3S. The presentation would give an overview of the present and future product family suitable for D3S, and how those would support the D3S objective.Speaker: Mr Klaus Buchheim (Thales Alenia Space Schweiz AG) -
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Radiation monitoring hosted payloads: ICARE_NG2 20m
In the framework of SSA/SWE phase 3 two ICARE-NG radiation monitoring payloads will be delivered. This instrument was first developed in the late 90’s and the latest flight model produced will be launched by the mid-2019 on the EUTELSAT’s satellite E7C, an EOR+GEO mission. It is based on ICARE-NG generic system where 5 acquisition chains are implemented. The output of the spectrum acquisition electronic is raw numerical spectra composed of 256 energy channels, each 16 bits wide. Furthermore, a 32 bits fast counter is associated to each spectrum. Spectrum acquisition channels are all identical and can support various types of sensor, only the gain of the channels shall be adapted to the sensor heads according to the measurement range required. So far, available sensors are: Electrons, Protons, Low energy Protons, Heavy-Ions. Only three sensors can be supported by ICARE-NG together, so they have to be chosen according to the particular needs of the mission.
The overall instrument will be presented, available sensors will be detailed and results from previous missions will be given.Speaker: Sebastien Bourdarie (ONERA) -
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Energetic Particle Spectrometers for Application within the Distributed Space Weather Sensor System (D3S): The Energetic Particle Telescope (EPT), its Proposed Miniaturization and the 3D Energetic Electron Spectrometer (3DEES) 20m
Science class space radiation spectrometers are embarked on satellites to collect data for various objectives including validation / improvement / development of radiation environment models, characterization of the dynamics of the space radiation environment as well as provide space weather services.
The EPT is actually flying on-board PROBA-V as technology demonstration payload. The operational principle of the EPT (predominantly a range telescope) leads to an instrument with an excellent in-flight particle discrimination capability and immunity to contamination by off-Field of View particles. It provides flux spectra of electrons (0.5–8 MeV), protons (9.5–300 MeV) and α-particles (38–1200 MeV). The measurements are conducted continuously with 2 s time resolution and transmitted on-ground 3 times per day, where within several hours they are processed till high-level scientific data products, that are then available at the ESA SSA-SWE portal (SSA Space Weather, Expert Service Center Space Radiation).
Now that the concept has been demonstrated to lead to the expected performances, it was decided to develop a miniaturized version of the instrument. The objective of the miniaturised EPT (mEPT) development is to produce a compacter radiation telescope of size ~200 cm3, but whose performances in particle detection are comparable to that of the EPT. The targeted power consumption of the device is ~1 W which should be achieved by use of adapted integrated circuit (IC) technology, among others.
The 3D Energetic Electron Spectrometer (3DEES), that is actually under development (TRL 4), is a compact and modular electron spectrometer designed on the basis of an innovative concept that allows angle resolved high energy coverage for electrons (0.1 – 10 MeV ) using few sensors. Its basic configuration provides capabilities to measure angular distribution of electrons and protons at 12 angles spanning over 180° in two planes. The 3DEES concept also allows measurements of proton fluxes (4-50 MeV), while performing absolute electron-proton discrimination for protons up to 200 MeV. Although designed as instrument to deliver data for detailed scientific studies, its data can find direct application within Space Weather services, in the same way than EPT.This presentation will give a general review of three instruments wherein the main assets and achievements of the EPT will be briefly revisited and an introduction to the miniaturized instrument and its key features will be presented. The 3DEES in its latest status will also be presented together with its performances that are expected to be attained.
Speaker: Dr Stanislav Borisov (UCLouvain - CSR) -
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From keV to GeV - energetic particle instrumentation made in Kiel 20m
Space weather is defined by the conditions on the Sun, the interplanetary space and Earths atmosphere. A change in the conditions of any of these elements may impact the performance of space- and ground based technology and can even affect human life in space and on Earth. One aspect of space weather are solar transient phenomena like coronal mass ejections and solar flares. These phenomena can accelerate solar energetic particles, which may induce high amounts of radiation doses to astronauts and also to space hardware.
The University of Kiel is involved in multiple current and future missions with special emphasis on the measurement of these energetic particles by developing and building the corresponding instrumentation for the past 50 years. The latest missions for which instrumentation for space weather and solar science applications have been build include the Solar TErREstrial Observatory, Mars Science Laboratory, Solar Orbiter and the Chinese Chang'e 4 mission. For these missions, different instrument concepts have been developed to measure energetic particles from the keV to GeV energy range as well as thermal and fast neutrons.
Here we will present some of the instrument designs and their performance for particle measurements and how we can contribute to future space weather missions.Speaker: Robert Elftmann (Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, University of Kiel) -
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Coffee 30m
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Radiation-Hard Electron Monitor for ESA JUICE mission 20m
Radiation-Hard Electron Monitor (RADEM) is an instrument developed for ESA JUICE mission. It consists of four detector subsystems: Electron Stack Detector (ESD), Proton Stack Detector (PSD), Heavy Ion Stack Detector (HISD) and Directional Detector (DD). The instrument is designed to provide quasi logarithmic spectra of electrons and protons as well as an angular distribution of electrons. HISD allows for measurement and discrimination of ions from Helium to Oxygen. The energy ranges are 0.3 - 40 MeV for ESD and 5 - 250 MeV for PSD. RADEM is equipped with radiation hard ASIC VATA466 and enables measurements of particle fluxes up to 10$^9$ /cm$^2$/s. The instrument itself is very compact with a total mass of 1.9 kg and 1 dm$^3$ volume. The total power is equal to 3.2 W. RADEM will start operation already during the cruise part of the JUICE S/C providing information on the Cosmic Ray fluxes across the Solar System. Its modular structure and specially designed readout ASIC allow for tailored adaptation in other projects with radiation monitors such as e.g. ESA planned LGR mission.
Speaker: Patryk Socha (Paul Scherrer Institute) -
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Medium Energy Particle Spectrometer (MEPS) for ESA Lagrange Mission 20m
The Lagrange mission concept is overseen by the Space Situational Awareness Programme at ESA to ensure an effective capability to monitor potentially dangerous solar events. This mission concept proposes positioning two spacecraft in orbit at the L1 and L5 Lagrangian points, respectively, where gravitational forces interact to create a stable location for observations. The Medium Energy Particle Spectrometer (MEPS) instrument is one of the in-situ payloads for the Lagrange spacecraft. MEPS measures the energy spectra and angular distributions of energetic electrons (30-600 keV) and ions (30-6000 keV/nuc). MEPS consists of one unit hosting a pair of double-ended telescope with four view cones each, two dedicated for electrons and two for ions. The MEPS measurement concept is based on the magnet/foil-technique and the dE/dx vs. E technique to cleanly separate and measure electrons, protons and ions. The MEPS conceptual design is presented.
Speakers: Dr Ali Ravanbakhsh (Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics), Dr Shri Kulkarni (Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics), Mr Elftmann Robert (Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics) -
16:50
CubeSat compatible instrumentation for monitoring the radiation environment 20m
University of Turku (UTU) is developing CubeSat compatible instrumentation for observing and monitoring near-Earth particle radiation environment within the framework of Finnish Centre of Excellence in Research of Sustainable Space (FORESAIL). The first instrument of the suite, Radiation Monitor (RADMON), is making observations of energetic electrons (>1.5 MeV) and protons (>10 MeV) aboard Aalto-1, a 3-U CubeSat in sun-synchronous Low Earth Orbit (~500 km), since July 2017. RADMON is a compact low-cost instrument consisting of a detector unit and three printed circuit boards (analog board, digital board, power supply board) altogether taking about 0.4 U of space. The mass is less than 400 g and the power consumption about 1 W. The detector unit consists of a Si detector of 350 µm thickness plus a 1 cm$^3$ cubic CsI(Tl) scintillator with photodiode readout, both enclosed inside a brass frame with an Al window defining the nominal aperture of the instrument. FPGA-based digital signal processing produces two pulse heights – one per detector for each incident particle – used for particle identification and energy determination. The instrument produces electron and proton counting rates in five and nine channels, respectively, which have responses that allow for the determination of the integral flux at several threshold energies per species. RADMON operations aboard Aalto-1 have produced valuable data, which are presently utilized to improve the design for future applications of the instrument in space weather monitoring constellations (see Huovelin et al., this workshop).
The second instrument under development at UTU is Particle Telescope (PATE), which will be carried by the FORESAIL-1 mission, a 3-U CubeSat to be launched in polar Low Earth Orbit in 2020. PATE measures the differential fluxes at electron [proton] energies of 80–800 keV [0.3–10 MeV] in seven [nine] differential channels and in one [two] integral channel[s] above 800 keV [10 MeV]. PATE consists of housing, two detector units, amplifier boards, signal processing boards and boards for generating voltages and housekeeping measurements. The mass of the instrument is 1.2 kg, the envelope is 1.4 U and the power consumption close to 3 W. The two detector units consist of stacks of Si detectors that are passively collimated to observe particle fluxes inside orthogonal narrow view cones, to allow an accurate measurement of pitch-angle distributions on-board rotating platforms. The specific application of PATE aboard FORESAIL-1 is the accurate determination of precipitating electron fluxes in the outer-belt region. Further uses in various space weather missions are also in planning. The instrument is presently at TRL 4, with a prototype tested in the laboratory and a qualification model being assembled. After the qualification campaign PATE will reach TRL 6 by the end of 2019. A more compact (less well-collimated) version of the instrument is presently developed for space weather purposes. It will have a very similar detector system and electronics, but the mechanical structure is more integrated, giving an envelope of 0.75 U and a mass of 0.9 kg.
Speaker: Prof. Rami Vainio (Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Finland) -
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Instrumentation for correlated measurements of Cosmic Ray LET spectra 20m
Based on the multi-anode photomultiplier MAPMT and readout electronic developed for the POLAR instrument on-board of the Chinese Space Lab TG2 we present a concept of the Cosmic Ray LET spectrometer. The instrument is made of scintillator detectors coupled with the MAPMT and POLAR front-end readout-out electronics. It is tuned for detection of energy depositions from the Cosmic Rays covering four orders of magnitude of the LET spectra. Distributed signal readout allows for position sensitive detections and determination of ion direction. This first feature makes it also possible to correlate the ion hit with errors induced in electronic components placed on top of the detector. Instrument dimensions and power consumption suit it well for applications on-board of cube-sats.
Speaker: Dr Wojtek Hajdas (Paul Scherrer Institut) -
17:30
Penetrating particle ANalyzer (PAN) for deep space applications 20m
PAN is an innovative energetic particle detection technology to precisely measure and monitor the flux and composition of highly penetrating particles (> ~100 MeV/nucleon) in deep space, which will have broad applications. PAN will fill an observation gap of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) in the 100 MeV/n - GeV/n region, which will help to improve our understanding of the origin of GCRs and their propagation through the Galaxy and the Solar system. It will provide precise information of the spectrum, composition and timing of energetic particle originated from the Sun, which is essential for studying the physical process of solar activities, in particular those that produce intensive flux of energetic particles. The precise measurement of penetrating particles is also a unique contribution to space weather studies, in particular to the development of predictive space weather models in a multi-wavelength and multi-messenger approach, using observations both space and ground based. As indicated by the terminology, penetrating particles cannot be shielded effectively. PAN can monitor the flux and composition of these particles precisely and continuously, thus providing real-time radiation hazard warning and long-term radiation health risk for human space travelers. Once developed, PAN can become a standard device for deep space human bases and for deep space exploration and commercial spacecrafts, or as part of a space weather advance warning system permanently deployed in space. It can also be implemented on science missions to perform ground-breaking measurements for cosmic-ray physics, solar physics, planetary science and space radiation dosimetry.
PAN has been approved by the EU H2020 FETOPEN program to develop a demonstrator in 3 years (2020-2023).
Speaker: Xin Wu (Universtiy of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland) -
17:50
ArduSiPM a small, light and low power, All-In-One particle detector 10m
ArduSiPM, developed within the INFN, is the first particle detector in the scientific literature to use a microcontroller and a limited number of external components to control and acquire a scintillation detector using the new high sensitivity photodetector : the Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM). It is a technology transfer available in the market under INFN license. The detector is utilized in medical physics research, as beam loss monitor in the CERN accelerator, as cosmic ray detector in stratospheric balloons. Thanks to its low cost, it is used in school and university laboratories and outreach programs.
The use of ArduSiPM as a photon counter in astrophysics and analytical chemistry is under study.
A smaller and more performing version of ArduSiPM is under study in the INFN (Soc eLectronIcs Compact dEtector (SLICE project).Speaker: Valerio Bocci (INFN)
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Instrument presentations H-I
H-I
European Space Operations Center
Robert-Bosch-Str. 5, 64293 Darmstadt, Germany-
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D3S-RADMAG combined particle radiation and magnetic field measuring instrument package development for ESA’s D3S System 20m
In the frame of the Space Weather Service segment of the SSA (Space Situational Awareness) programme ESA (European Space Agency) requested an operational space weather prediction system with appropriate databases originating from near-real time service provider instruments in order to provide space weather related services. Since the space weather environment of the Earth is highly influenced by several physical parameters and mainly due to the complexity of the magnetosphere, a very good spatial and time resolution is required in space weather monitoring. MTA Centre for Energy Research has developed a dedicated space weather monitoring instrument concept (called D3S-RADMAG) that can be provided as a market product combining both, radiation and magnetic field measurement capability, into a single instrument which is compatible with the needs of ESA’s D3S measurement requirements. The conceptual approach shall take into account modularity as design driver in order to make it possible to accommodate the instrument on different platforms as a hosted payload. Modularity means that a general, core electrical system is designed (digital processing and power supply), which can handle the sensor systems that are needed for specific application or flight opportunities. The following sensors can be added to the instrument core system in accordance with the given hosting mission possibilities: radiation measurement telescopes to measure electrons, protons and heavy ions, miniaturized dose rate monitors to measure radiation effect accumulated dose at critical units, and a magnetometer sensor with a third party boom system to host the magnetometer sensor outside of the spacecraft. This concept provides a more versatile instrument, which can be fit to the given hosted mission measurement requirements by appropriate sensor system selection. In addition the instrument concept features radiation alarm support in-orbit for the hosting spacecraft making the instrument much more attractive for the possible platform providers. The presentation will provide a brief overview about the status of the instrument development.
Speaker: Mr Balazs Zabori (Centre for Energy Research, Space Research Laboratory) -
09:20
SOSMAG: A Service Oriented Space Weather Magnetometer 20m
The Service Oriented Spacecraft Magnetometer (SOSMAG) is a TRL-8 instrument that is suitable for use on satellites without magnetic cleanliness programme. Its development was initiated and conducted by the European Space Agency and the instrument was built by the SOSMAG consortium (Magson GmbH, TU Braunschweig, IWF Graz and Imperial College London).
SOSMAG enables detection of the spacecraft field AC variations on a proper time scale suitable to distinguish these variations from the magnetic field variations relevant to space weather phenomena, such as sudden increase in the interplanetary field, change of its direction or a magnetospheric boundary crossing. This is achieved through the use of two science grade fluxgate sensors on an approximately one meter long boom and two additional magneto-resistive sensors mounted within the spacecraft body, which are ideally located in the vicinity of dynamic magnetic field sources like e.g. reaction wheels and magnetic actuators. The measurements of the two spacecraft sensors together with the inner boom sensor enable an automated correction of the outer boom sensor measurement for the dynamic stray fields from the spacecraft.
SOSMAG has been deployed on GEO-KOMPSAT-2A (GK-2A), a South Korean meteorological and environmental satellite, which was launched to geostationary orbit (128.2° East) on December 4th, 2018. GK-2A is managed by the Korea Meteorological Administration and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute.The SOSMAG instrument was commissioned successfully and has been delivering data since January 2nd, 2019. The raw data of the outboard sensor shows dynamic disturbances of 20 nT and a static offset of 10 to 90 nT. In a first approach, dynamic disturbances were attenuated using data from the additional sensors and static offsets were removed by comparison to the Tsyganenko T04 reference field model. The ongoing cleaning and calibration processing activities aim to achieve the accuracy requirements of ±5 nT for static and ±1 nT for dynamic fields.
With these promising results, SOSMAG can be considered as a “ready-to-use” solution that could be deployed as piggyback instrument on future long-term missions. One example could be, e.g., a geostationary satellite above European longitudes, which could bridge the measurement gap that is covered neither by GK-2A nor by the American GOES satellites.
Speaker: David Fischer (Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria) -
09:40
Development of a different range of magnetometers for space weather applications 20m
The ability to monitor space weather is of key importance in protecting infrastructure from its adverse effects, both in space and on the ground. Moreover, the risks associated with space weather are the subject of growing societal interest, following the realisation that severe space weather can deliver significant socio-economic impact through a variety of mechanisms. Space weather monitoring requires a variety of in-situ measurements at many points simultaneously (analogous to weather stations on the ground) Consequently, to ensure European resilience to threats from the Sun by 2030, ESA has formulated within the Space Safety and Security Programme a plan which envisages a heterogenous space-based system using dedicated platforms, hosted payloads, and small satellites.
In many cases, knowledge of the local magnetic field strength and orientation is crucial to understanding and predicting space weather phenomena. Here we discuss how different measurement technologies can be appropriate for different applications and platforms, derived from the experience of designing, building and operating science missions with similar measurement requirements. We focus on the usefulness and applicability of both fluxgate and anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensor technologies.
Fluxgate magnetometers are typically used in science missions where stable, high precision measurements are required. This stability and reliability make them the best candidate for operational space weather missions such as LAGRANGE, which has stringent requirements on instrument reliability, data availability and data latency. Imperial College London is developing the magnetometer for this mission in collaboration with IWF Graz, and we discuss its current status and lessons learned regarding the transition from science to operational space weather instrumentation.
In contrast, AMR sensors become relevant when mass, volume and power budgets are limited. This is the case of CubeSat and small-sat platforms, which represent an interesting solution to be exploited for space weather monitoring constellation missions, and fractionated observatories. At Imperial College London we have developed MAGIC, a miniaturised magnetometer, which optimises the noise performance while minimising the power consumption by utilising a hybrid AMR sensor triad. This solution has flown on three CubeSat (TRIO-CINEMA) up-to-date and an improved design was developed for the Sunjammer microsatellite. The next mission is the ESA RADCUBE CubeSat and we discuss the current status of the instrument.
Finally, in the context of the D3S programme we consider how these different sensor options can be integrated into the envisaged heterogenous system and potential opportunities and pitfalls.
Speaker: Dr Chiara Palla (Imperial College London) -
10:00
Enhanced performance low resource in-situ sensors for space missions 20m
The Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) has strong heritage with plasma instrumentation delivering capable instruments for a range of missions including for magnetospheric missions (Cluster, Double Star), planetary environments (Cassini) and cometary studies (Giotto). These activities are backed up with a strong instrument development programme and state of the art test and calibration facilities. A particular focus of the current development activities is instrument miniaturisation with the aim of realising low-resource, multi-functional sensor systems. A brief description of the sensors follows.
Building on the laboratory’s heritage with top-hat type analysers, the Improved Plasma Analyser (IPA) has been developed with the addition of an electrostatic deflector plate system to scan the field of view to cover ±45º and a variable geometric factor system to vary the instrument geometric factor by up to an order of magnitude, providing significantly enhanced performance over conventional top-hat systems. The analyser provides the baseline design for the Electron Analyser System (EAS) of the Solar Wind Analyser (SWA) package on ESA’s Solar Orbiter mission. The instrument has been delivered to the spacecraft prime and launch is currently scheduled for February 2020. Also, the EAS provides the baseline subsystems for ESA’s L5 mission study currently in progress.
To realise highly integrated and miniaturised sensor systems, a number of analyser geometries and fabrication techniques are being studied. Based on results from these, the Charged Particle Spectrometer (ChaPS), was developed and launched on the UK’s TechDemoSat mission. ChaPS provided an in-flight demonstration of a novel analyser geometry combining low energy electron and ion analysis. The instrument design was tailored for a number of different goals, measurement of electrons in the Earth’s auroral regions, cold (< 60eV) ions in low Earth orbit and spacecraft charging, with sensor performance and operational modes optimised for each of the goals. Based on the ChaPS design, a low resource Hot Plasma Environment Monitor (HoPE-M) is being developed under ESA contract for satellites in Geostationary Orbits.
Finally, an Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS), designed for sampling of low mass ionised and neutral particles in the spacecraft ram direction, was developed for the EU QB50 CubeSat constellation mission. 9 INMS instrument were launched on their respective educational CubeSats and to date, data has been returned for a one month period from the one working QB50 CubeSat. Two further sensors are due to be launched in January 2020 on the CIRCE mission. Subsequently, an enhanced performance INMS is being developed for the Satellite for Aerodynamic Research (SOAR). a CubeSat being developed for the H2020 DISCOVERER project, currently scheduled for launch in 2020. The instrument is a gated time-of-flight and will add a velocity measurement capability to the INMS.
This paper will present an overview of the development programme, details of some of the missions and the corresponding sensors under development for them, the current status of the developments and a roadmap of the programme vision. Preliminary in-flight results from the QB50 INMS will also be presented and discussed.Speaker: Dhiren Kataria (University College London) -
10:20
SLP, the Sweeping Langmuir Probe instrument 20m
The Sweeping Langmuir Probe (SLP) instrument, which will fly on board the Pico-Satellite for Atmospheric and Space Science Observations (PICASSO), has been developed at the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy. PICASSO, an ESA in-orbit demonstrator which will be launched end of 2019 / beginning of 2020 with Vega, is a triple unit CubeSat of dimensions 340.5x100x100 mm.
SLP is a four-channel Langmuir probe instrument with four independent cylindrical probes. By sweeping the potential of a probe with respect to the plasma potential while measuring the current from this probe, the instrument will acquire a current-voltage characteristic from which the electron density and temperature, ion density and S/C (spacecraft) potential are retrieved. It is designed to measure the plasma parameters at an altitude around 500 km from a high inclination orbit. It can measure plasma density over a wide range, from 1e8/m³ up to 1e13/m³ and the electron temperature from 500 K and 10.000 K.
An important issue implied by the use of a nano-satellite platform for a Langmuir probe instrument is the limited conducting area of the spacecraft, which leads to spacecraft charging and drift of the instrument’s electrical ground during the measurement. A specific measurement technique that includes the simultaneous measurement of the potential and current of different probes has been developed to retrieve consistent current-voltage characteristics that can be used to estimate the plasma parameters mentioned above. This technique has been tested in a plasma chamber at ESTEC with a satellite mock-up which is electrically representative of PICASSO.
Speaker: Sylvain Ranvier (Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB)) -
10:40
AMBER, The French Plasma Monitor dedicated to Spacecraft Charging 20m
- measuring incoming auroral low energies fluxes and spacecraft absolute voltage -
Electrostatic discharges (ESD) are a major risk of failures in orbit. From temporary outage to power loss with secondary arcing, the panel of possible degradation is very wide. The tribute already paid by the agencies, insurance or operator is certainly very high and expressed in millions euros.
Coming from the sun, particles hit all the spacecraft on every orbit, building up very negative absolute potential. Then difference in materials, temperature, lightening allows to create voltage gradient at the origin of ESD.
The AMBER experiment, onboard the ocean topography mapper Jason-3, aimed to measure the spacecraft absolute potential and auroral particle precipitation, consists of 2 top-hat analyzers for electrons and ions in the energy range 10 eV-28 keV. Each spectrometer has a 180° zenith pointing field of view divided in 4 anodes.
The Jason-3 satellite launched 2016, January 17th is orbiting nearly circularly at an altitude of 1336 km with an inclination of 66.04°. Given its low inclination, the satellite probes at times the south part of the auroral oval nearly tangentially when going out from the outer radiation belt.
When the spacecraft is in the dark or the Shadow, absolute potential above one kilovolt are often registered and when the absolute voltage is near zero, Amber provide nice records for the scientist, positive fluxes injection were already discovered.Internal charging and adaptation to MEO orbit are the very last improvement.
This paper will present Amber, its capability, some charging results and the worst case spectrum associated and its evolution and versatility to launch it on every kind of spacecraft
Amber data are now freely available on CLWEB at IRAP: http://clweb.irap.omp.eu/
Feel free to ask for an account.
NB: From electronic and mechanical design, testing, …, to file treatment, a space project is a long way involving here for Amber, many people from CNES, IRAP, EREMS, COMAT and ONERA. It is impossible to name all of them, but they are warmly thanked.Speaker: Jean André Sauvaud (IRAP/CNRS) -
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Coffee 30m
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Instrumentation of Energetic Neutral Atoms for Space Weather Monitoring 20m
We introduce a new technique of space weather monitoring using energetic neutral atoms (ENAs), and the instrumentation to achieve the monitoring. ENAs are produced ubiquitously in the solar system through charge exchange interactions between space plasma and ambient particles. Thanks to their neutrality, ENAs fly along ballistic trajectories, keeping the energy and direction information of the original source plasma ion. Thus, ENAs have been used widely to image plasma populations in a remote sensing manner. Such characteristics of ENAs provide potential applications to the space weather monitoring, complimentarily to the other measurement techniques such as in situ plasma measurements and telescopic measurements at various wavelengths. Particular interests of using the ENAs are that they conserve the velocity distribution function of the source plasma ions in the disturbed space weather conditions. Among several possible ENA populations, we here focus on the ENA component that are produced in front of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICME). Low to medium energy (1-10 keV) ENAs are produced, transported toward the Earth, arriving a couple of hours before the arrival of the high-temperature plasma cloud (i.e., the main ICME). Since the ENAs can intrude to the terrestrial magnetosphere, ENA sensors at any spacecraft altitudes can detect the corresponding flux. In addition to forecast of the arrival of the main ICME, ENA preserves the velocity distribution function of the ICME plasma. With this information, quantitative assessment of the strength of geoeffective ICME impact becomes possible before their arrival. In the presentation, we introduce an ENA instrument equipping with the ability to monitor the ICME-originated ENA populations, with flight heritages in space, developed at Swedish Institute of Space Physics; including the CENA sensor on Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft (2008), the MPPE/ENA sensor on BepiColombo/MMO spacecraft (2018 launched), and the PEP/JNA sensor on the JUICE spacecraft.
Speaker: Mr Yoshifumi Futaana (Swedish Institute of Space Physics) -
11:50
WFAI: An hyperspectral imager for auroral monitoring 20m
In the field of space weather research, the monitoring of auroral emissions is one of the most powerful tools to obtain the particles precipitation spectra along the auroral oval. The concerned particles are mainly low energy electrons coming from the plasmasheet. Protons can also precipitate. These particles have energy ranges from tens of eV to keV. It represents one of the main energetic contribution to the solar wind through the magnetosphere. Considering this, we propose in the D3S mission frame, a wide field auroral hyperspectral imager (WFAI) with a FOV of 60°, 10 km of spatial resolution in the range of few nanometres. The instrument is a Fourier transform spectrometer based on Fabry-Perot principle. It uses several HDPYX CMOS detectors from Pyxalis company with 10 µm. The instrument can monitor the auroras between 350nm and 1000 nm (AOSI). It is joined with a FUV imager (AUI) equipped with three filters. (O 130nm, O 135nm, N2 LBH 138nm) with the same FoV. The FUV part of WFAI will allow to get information on the auroral emissions even in the dayside.
Speaker: Mathieu Barthelemy (CSUG/IPAG (UGA-GINP)) -
12:10
Development of compact Solar Imagers 20m
During the past years, CSL has been involved in many missions aiming at imaging the Sun. Every mission led to the design of specific solutions to support the considered environment and fulfill user requirements. Coming from a very stable thermal solution for Proba2/SWAP to an extremely compact design for the ESIO study, CSL developed a multi channel instrument for Solar Orbiter and is now studying a new imager for the Lagrange mission based on the heritage of those previous missions. The aim of this abstract is to review the development of these studies starting from the user requirements to understand their consistency.
Speaker: Christian Kintziger (Centre Spatial de Liège) -
12:30
Contribution to Lagrange PMI 10mSpeaker: Christiane Bergemann (OHB Systems AG)
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Lunch 1h 20m
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Instrument presentations H-I
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European Space Operations Center
Robert-Bosch-Str. 5, 64293 Darmstadt, Germany-
14:30
Monitoring solar and interplanetary radio emissions with magnetic loop sensors 20m
Radio emissions in the MF and HF bands (typically from 0.1 to 30 MHz) provide an important diagnostic of solar activity as radio bursts are generated by energetic electrons in the vicinity of interplanetary shocks that are associated with geoeffective coronal mass ejections. While such electromagnetic emissions are usually detected by means of electric field antennas, their magnetic component can also be measured with magnetic loop antennas. The latter consist of a small circular loop with an air core; the diameter is typically 20 to 30 cm.
Two major advantages of such magnetic sensors are their compact size and simplicity, and their higher sensitivity for detecting radio emissions relative to the galactic noise level (as compared to electric field antennas that are typically 10 m long). Such loop antennas have already flown on the POLAR spacecraft and on the CHARM sounding rocket. Here, we discuss the prospects for tailoring such sensors to the needs for monitoring the space environment.
Speaker: Prof. Thierry Dudok de Wit (University of Orléans) -
14:50
Wave instrument for Distributed Space Weather Sensor System 20m
The Distributed Space Weather Sensor System (D3S) is an excellent initiative and already consists of many sensors and instruments, including neutral and charged particle as well as radiation monitors and magnetometers. However, one type of key instrument is missing: no wave instruments/sensors are planned to be included.
Electromagnetic waves in the ULF-ELF-VLF band play a key role in wave-particle interaction, the major process generating and precipitating energetic particle in/from the radiation belts, the ‘engine’ of the radiation environment. A few examples: chorus waves are generated by thermal anisotropy of seed population in the outer radiation belts and these waves can accelerate the source population up to (ultra) relativistic energy; EMIC waves can precipitate the high energy particles into the atmospheric loss cone; hisses and VLF transmitter signal create and maintain the slot region, etc. The diffusion coefficients in the Fokker-Planck equation (that describes the dynamics of the radiation belts) need to be calculated from the measured wave amplitudes, their continuous measurement therefore is inevitable for any reliable SWE/SSA models/operation.
We have developed a concept of ‘full featured’ wave measurements in an ESA project (Contract No. 4000120693), the elements of the system, such as sensors, booms, data acquisition and processing unit: the Signal Analyzer and Sampler (SAS) instrument) have successfully flown recently on several satellites (COMPAS-2, Chibis-M, RELEK), was installed on ISS in Obstanovka experiment and are in development stage for Trabant microsatellite mission and Obstanovka Phase-2 experiment on ISS.
Based on these experiences, we propose to develop D3S-SAS instrument and include it into D3S pool.
In this talk we present the basic concept and specification of D3S-SAS with several option from the “full-featured” one to the simplest single component measurement offering opportunity for various host environmentSpeaker: Prof. János Lichtenberger (Department of Geophysics and Space Sciences, Eötvös University, Budapest) -
15:10
The AIDA Micro-Particle Detector 20m
The development of micro-particle detectors has a long history since the early years of the space age. Mostly dedicated to scientific purposes to gain and improve knowledge about the micrometeoroid environment around the Earth and in interplanetary space, their data was used to establish and enhance the respective particle environment models.
Due to the fact that in most cases these instruments were flown as piggy-back payloads and therefore limited in mass, power and volume, the detectors were built to measure impact properties of micro-particles, as otherwise no reasonable impact rates could be achieved.
Some drawbacks of the detection methods of existing detectors (e.g. GORID, DEBIE) led to the idea to investigate new detection technologies. etamax space and its partners from research institutes and industry started the development of AIDA, the Advanced Impact Detector Assembly. AIDA is a two stage detector, where the trajectory analyser stage measures the velocity vector of the incoming particle, while the impact stage determines its kinetic energy. Consequently, the most important particle parameters mass and velocity can be derived, which allows to discriminate between impacting micro-meteoroids and small space debris particles.
The AIDA trajectory analyser is based on four laser light sheets and sensitive photo-detectors, which allow to determine the position and the time-of-flight of the light flashes generated when a particle passes the light sheets. In the frame of the ESA activity “Particle Trajectory Analyser Phase A/B” a breadboard model of the instrument was developed and partly tested, bringing the instrument to TRL 4.
For the AIDA impact stage a new calorimetric detection principle was developed. The kinetic energy of the impacting particle is derived from the temperature rise caused in a small metallic plate when hit by the particle. The method was verified and a sensor calibration was performed at the Heidelberg dust accelerator. A full qualification of the impact stage was performed in the ESA activity “AIDA Impact Detector” and the instrument reached TRL 7 after some design changes and the respective delta-testing.
The presentation will outline the current development status and an overview of the instrument performances as well as the required resources will be given. For both the trajectory analyser and the impact stage development roadmaps will be presented.Speaker: Dr Karl Dietrich Bunte (etamax space GmbH) -
15:30
CubeSat constellation for monitoring of space weather 20m
A CubeSat constellation platform has been found to be a tempting and cost-effective solution for monitoring of space weather at LEO, which would complement higher altitude space weather observations, providing data for validation of space weather models and using assimilation for better spatial and temporal resolution, thus enabling services for operational use in aviation and other user sectors. A constellation of 10–20 CubeSats with continuous monitoring capability of solar X-ray fluxes and spectra, high-energy particles, and ionospheric electron density variability would be a suitable solution for such purpose.
There are already high-TRL solutions for space weather instruments adapted for CubeSats, like XFM-CS and high-energy particle monitors (Vainio et al., this workshop). Radio beacons and CubeSat platforms with high TRL are also available, and already in use for research of ionosphere, space weather and other purposes. We present an overview of a CubeSat constellation for space weather at LEO, including the platform, payload, and the ground segment, and discuss the use of the data from the system for new space weather services.
Isaware develops instruments for space weather observations in collaboration with ESA, industrial companies and scientific institutions. The first instrument, X-ray Flux Monitor for CubeSats (XFM-CS) has been developed in a tightly scheduled project in 1.5 years and will be integrated with a CubeSat manufactured by Reaktor Space Lab and ready for launch in 2020 in the SUNSTORM 1 mission. XFM will observe the X-ray spectrum of the Sun, and provide X-ray flux data compatible with that of GOES X-ray flux monitors, thus serving as an alert device of solar flares, but will also provide high spectral and time resolution X-ray spectra for refined analysis of solar flares, and for investigations of ionospheric effects on Earth. A next, radiation hardened version of the XFM is being developed for the in-situ instrument suite of the Lagrange 5 mission of ESA.
Speaker: Dr JUHANI HUOVELIN (ISAWARE LTD) -
15:50
CHESS - Constellation of High Energy Swiss Satellites for D3S 20m
The Constellation of High Energy Swiss Satellites CHESS will rely on detector modules made for the hard X-ray polarimeter POLAR flying onboard of the Chinese space laboratory TianGong 2. Spare modules from the polarimeter will be adopted for cube-satellite platform to conduct multidisciplinary research in a constellation of small satellites. It was already demonstrated during POLAR mission that such small detector systems are capable to measure spectra from both Gamma Ray Bursts and Solar Flares in a wide range of hard X-ray energies. For very strong events it is also anticipated to determine the linear polarization of photons. In addition, due to detector wide field of view it is possible to conduct continuous and accurate observations of the Space Weather and its stormy events. Placement of identical detectors on several cube-satellites will also offer uninterrupted observations of the Sun and allow for sampling of the dynamic processes in the magnetosphere for 3D modeling of particle environments. With precisely synchronized timing between CHESS satellites one will determine the direction of detected Gamma Ray Bursts and correlate the event with potential Gravitational Waves measurements. During this workshop we will present how CHESS could be a nice candidate for the medium term participation into the ESA’s Distributed Space Weather Sensor System.
Speaker: Mr Tristan Trebaol (EPFL Space Center)
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Summary H-I
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European Space Operations Center
Robert-Bosch-Str. 5, 64293 Darmstadt, Germany
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