Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment: Differential Flux Measurements of Energetic Particles in a Highly Inclined Low Earth Orbit

Li, X.; Palo, S. E.; Kohnert, Rick; Gerhardt, David; Blum, L. W.; Schiller, Q.; Turner, D. L.; Tu, Weichao; Sheiko, N.; Cooper, C. Shearer

doi:10.1029/2012gm001313

Cited by 26 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(29 reference statements)

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“…The Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment (CSSWE: http://lasp.colorado.edu/home/csswe/) is a three‐unit (10 cm × 10 cm × 30 cm) CubeSat mission funded by the National Science Foundation, launched into a low‐altitude, highly inclined orbit on 13 September 2012 as a secondary payload under NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites program [ Li et al ., , , ]. CSSWE contains a single science payload, the Relativistic Electron and Proton Telescope integrated little experiment (REPTile).…”

Section: Csswe Mission and Instrument Descriptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…REPTile uses the depth of penetration of the particle into the detector stack to infer the energy of incoming particles. Particles must also have adequate energy to penetrate through a thin beryllium foil to reach the first detector [ Li et al ., ], and then the particle species is determined based on the energy deposited in each detector. Particles depositing 0.25 < E < 1.5 MeV are classified as electrons, and those depositing E > 4.5 MeV as protons.…”

Section: Csswe Mission and Instrument Descriptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure shows yearly window‐averaged sunspot numbers and weekly window‐averaged solar wind speed (km/s) in the top panel and monthly window‐averaged fluxes of ~2 MeV electrons (#/cm 2 ‐s‐sr) from Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX) [ Cook et al ., ] and Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment (CSSWE) [ Li et al ., , , ]. The period covers from SAMPEX's launch (3 July 1992, into a 550 × 650 km altitude and 82° inclination orbit) to almost its reentry (13 November 2012) and extends to include CSSWE measurements (5 October 2012 to 7 March 2013) from a similar orbit.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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First results from CSSWE CubeSat: Characteristics of relativistic electrons in the near‐Earth environment during the October 2012 magnetic storms

Schiller

Blum

et al. 2013

JGR Space Physics

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[1] Measurements from the Relativistic Electron and Proton Telescope integrated little experiment (REPTile) on board the Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment (CSSWE) CubeSat mission, which was launched into a highly inclined (65°) low Earth orbit, are analyzed along with measurements from the Relativistic Electron and Proton Telescope (REPT) and the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS) instruments aboard the Van Allen Probes, which are in a low inclination (10°) geo-transfer-like orbit. Both REPT and MagEIS measure the full distribution of energetic electrons as they traverse the heart of the outer radiation belt. However, due to the small equatorial loss cone (only a few degrees), it is difficult for REPT and MagEIS to directly determine which electrons will precipitate into the atmosphere, a major radiation belt loss process. REPTile, a miniaturized version of REPT, measures the fraction of the total electron population that has small enough equatorial pitch angles to reach the altitude of CSSWE, 480 km × 780 km, thus measuring the precipitating population as well as the trapped and quasi-trapped populations. These newly available measurements provide an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the source, loss, and energization processes that are responsible for the dynamic behavior of outer radiation belt electrons. The focus of this paper will be on the characteristics of relativistic electrons measured by REPTile during the October 2012 storms; also included are long-term measurements from the Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer to put this study into context.

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Section: Csswe Mission and Instrument Descriptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Csswe Mission and Instrument Descriptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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First results from CSSWE CubeSat: Characteristics of relativistic electrons in the near‐Earth environment during the October 2012 magnetic storms

Schiller

Blum

et al. 2013

JGR Space Physics

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“…This process is called cosmic ray albedo neutron decay, or CRAND. Recently, relativistic electrons near the inner edge of the inner radiation belt were measured by the Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment CubeSat (Li et al, 2012 and identified as CRANDproduced . CRAND was identified as an important source for the inner proton radiation belt six decades ago (Kellogg, 1959;Selesnick et al, 2014;Singer, 1958), but not as a significant source of trapped electrons (Lenchek et al, 1961;Walt & Farley, 1976).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the Quasi‐Trapped Electron Fluxes From Cosmic Ray Albedo Neutron Decay (CRAND)

Xiang

Selesnick

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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Recently, cosmic ray albedo neutron decay (CRAND) has been identified as the main source of relativistic electrons measured at the inner edge of inner radiation belt. Here we introduce a drift‐source model that includes azimuthal drift and a CRAND electron source to simulate the quasi‐trapped electron distribution measured by the DEMETER satellite during 20–30 April 2010. The simulated longitude distribution of quasi‐trapped electron fluxes at the inner edge of inner radiation belt successfully reproduces the DEMETER observations, confirming CRAND as the main source for these electrons. Furthermore, a comparison of the energy spectrum and the L distribution of the quasi‐trapped relativistic electrons between simulations and observations further suggests that CRAND is likely the dominant source for 300–700‐keV quasi‐trapped electrons at L < 2 and L ≈ 3.

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“…Funding for CSSWE was received in January 2010 for $840k from the NSF. CSSWE's primary science objective is to study space weather in Earth's magnetosphere [1]. The science payload, the Relativistic Electron and Proton Telescope integrated little experiment (REPTile) [2], is a miniaturized version of the Relativistic Electron and Proton Telescope (REPT) [3] on board NASA's Van Allen Probes mission [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and scientific return of a miniaturized particle telescope onboard the Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment (CSSWE) CubeSat

Schiller

Gerhardt

Blum

et al. 2014

2014 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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The Relativistic Electron and Proton Telescope Integrated Little Experiment (REPTile) is a loaded-disc collimated solid-state particle telescope designed, built, tested, and operated by a team of students at the University of Colorado. It was launched onboard the Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment (CSSWE), a 3U CubeSat, from Vandenberg Air Force Base on September 13th, 2012, as part of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program.REPTile takes measurements of energetic particles in the near-Earth environment. These measurements, by themselves and in conjunction with larger missions, are critical to understand, model, and predict hazardous space weather effects. However, miniaturizing a power-and mass-hungry particle telescope to return clean measurements from a CubeSat platform is extremely challenging. To overcome these challenges, REPTile underwent a rigorous design and testing phase. This paper highlights some of the design and testing which validates the data as a valuable contribution to the study of space weather. CSSWE uses a keep-it-simple design approach to minimize risks associated with low budget and student built missions. A coherent testing plan confirmed that the spacecraft would remain healthy and take reliable measurements in orbit. This paper also highlights the system-level design and testing that verified spacecraft performance pre and post launch.Despite the risks inherent CubeSat missions, REPTile to date has returned over 300 days of valuable science data, more than tripling its nominal mission lifetime of 90 days. Initial in-flight instrument results are presented, including engineering hurdles encountered in receiving and processing the data. Also, the preliminary scientific contributions of the mission are covered in this paper to demonstrate the capabilities of a low-budget CubeSat mission. As an affordable, robust, and simple instrument and mission design, CSSWE demonstrates that small satellites are a reliable platform to deliver quality science.

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Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment: Differential Flux Measurements of Energetic Particles in a Highly Inclined Low Earth Orbit

Cited by 26 publications

References 31 publications

First results from CSSWE CubeSat: Characteristics of relativistic electrons in the near‐Earth environment during the October 2012 magnetic storms

First results from CSSWE CubeSat: Characteristics of relativistic electrons in the near‐Earth environment during the October 2012 magnetic storms

Modeling the Quasi‐Trapped Electron Fluxes From Cosmic Ray Albedo Neutron Decay (CRAND)

Design and scientific return of a miniaturized particle telescope onboard the Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment (CSSWE) CubeSat

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