High-energy electron experiments (HEP) aboard the ERG (Arase) satellite

Earth, Planets and Space

Wataru Miyake¹  Satoshi Kasahara²  Takeshi Takashima³  Takefumi Mitani³  Masafumi Hirahara⁴ 

[1] Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Tokai University;Department of Earth and Planetary Science, School of Science, The University of Tokyo;Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency;Institute of Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University;

关键词: ERG;    Arase;    Radiation belts;    High-energy electrons;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40623-018-0853-1

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract This paper reports the design, calibration, and operation of high-energy electron experiments (HEP) aboard the exploration of energization and radiation in geospace (ERG) satellite. HEP detects 70 keV–2 MeV electrons and generates a three-dimensional velocity distribution for these electrons in every period of the satellite’s rotation. Electrons are detected by two instruments, namely HEP-L and HEP-H, which differ in their geometric factor (G-factor) and range of energies they detect. HEP-L detects 70 keV–1 MeV electrons and its G-factor is 9.3 × 10−4 cm2 sr at maximum, while HEP-H observes 0.7–2 MeV electrons and its G-factor is 9.3 × 10−3 cm2 sr at maximum. The instruments utilize silicon strip detectors and application-specific integrated circuits to readout the incident charge signal from each strip. Before the launch, we calibrated the detectors by measuring the energy spectra of all strips using γ-ray sources. To evaluate the overall performance of the HEP instruments, we measured the energy spectra and angular responses with electron beams. After HEP was first put into operation, on February 2, 2017, it was demonstrated that the instruments performed normally. HEP began its exploratory observations with regard to energization and radiation in geospace in late March 2017. The initial results of the in-orbit observations are introduced briefly in this paper.

【 授权许可】

Unknown