Speaker
Description
The 3D Energetic Electron Spectrometer (3DEES) has been designed as a compact science-class instrument that is optimised for the measurement of angle-resolved electron spectra in the energy range 0.1 - 10 MeV in the Earth’s radiation belts. However, it also allows to quantify proton fluxes in the energy range 2.5 to 50 MeV. It has been developed within a consortium including the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, Redwire Space nv and UCLouvain.
On 5th December 2024, a demonstrator model of the instrument (measuring simultaneously from 6 directions) was launched on board PROBA-3 into a highly elliptical orbit: 60 530 km apogee, 600 km perigee, 59° inclination, 19.7 hours orbital period. With these orbital parameters, the satellite is covering parts of the inner belt, outer belt and mostly the border of the magnetosphere. Thus, the primary objective of the 3DEES mission is to provide an accurate characterisation of the high-energy electron population in the magnetosphere for scientific studies of their acceleration and loss processes, by measuring angle-resolved energy spectra of electrons. In addition, the mission targets to deliver Space Weather data for now- and forecasting activities.
A week after its launch, the instrument was switched on for the first time and a health test showed that all sensors are operating nominally. Later the ability of 3DEES to measure direction-resolved energy spectra was verified.
The presentation will give a brief overview of the 3DEES instrument on board PROBA-3, present primary results from the commissioning phase, and outline future plans for its first mission.
