Solar Neutron and Gamma-ray Monitor on the ChubuSat-2 Satellite

Abstract

The ChubuSat is a Japanese microsatellite technology demonstration mission jointly depeloped by Nagoya university, Daido university, and medium or small-sized aerospace industrial companies in the Chubu area of central Japan. ChubuSat-2 is the second ChubuSat following ChubuSat-1 which was launched by the Russian DNEPR rocket on November 6, 2014. It was selected as one of the four piggyback payloads of the X-ray astronomy satellite ASTRO-H in 2014 summer, and will be launched by the H-IIA rocket from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) in winter season of fiscal year (FY) 2015. The ChubuSat-2 mission is devoted to monitoring neutrons and gamma-rays in the ASTRO-H orbit which can be noise sources for ASTRO-H X-ray and soft gamma-ray observations. The mission involves solar neutron observations which were originally proposed by graduate students who joined the leadership development program for space exploration and research, a program for leading graduate schools at Nagoya University. In this paper, we describe the outline of the ChubuSat-2 satellite and the details of the mission instrument, the radiation detector (RD).

SOlar Neutron and Gamma-ray Spectrometer (SONGS)

“…To fill the gap we do not have any space instruments dedicated for solar neutron observations, we have started a project aimed for solar neutron and gamma-ray observations from space using micro-satellites. The first mission we have launched on February 2016 is 50-kg ChubuSat-2 satellite [8]. However, we have not successfully operated the satellite and the solar neutron detector in orbit.…”

SOlar Neutron and Gamma-ray Spectroscopy Mission: SONGS

“…To overcome this situation where there is no dedicated mission in space, we have designed and developed solar neutron sensors for microsatellite. The satellite we already launched is the ChubuSat-2 satellite with a 50 kg weight on February 17, 2016, but it has not been successfully operated in orbit [9]. To recover the Chubusat-2 mission, we have a plan to launch a 3U CubeSat dedicated for solar neutron observations around 2024 at the next solar maximum [10].…”

Solar Neutron and Gamma-ray Detector for a 3U CubeSat

“…A solar neutron detector was built at facilities of Nagoya University, and was launched as a piggyback satellite with the X-ray astronomical satellite ASTRO-H on February 17, 2016. [9] However due to failure in the bus system, the detector was not turned on. Hence we are now trying to recover the mission for a 3U CubeSat in the near future.…”