Proton monitor Las Dos Torres: First intercomparison of in-orbit results

Author

Jiménez, J.J. ; Oter, J.M. ; Apéstigue, V. ; Hernando, C. ; Ibarmia, S. ; Hajdas, W. ; Sanchez-Páramo, J. ; Álvarez, M.T. ; Arruego, I. ; Guerrero, H.

Author_Institution

Dept. de Programas Espaciales y Cienc. del Espacio, Inst. Nac. de Tec. Aerosp. (INTA), Madrid, Spain

fYear

2011

fDate

19-23 Sept. 2011

Firstpage

587

Lastpage

594

Abstract

The proton monitor on board NANOSAT 1B - Las Dos Torres (translated, The Two Towers) - and its preliminary results after two years in orbit are presented. This satellite was fully developed by INTA (National Institute of Aerospace Technique, Spain) and was launched on the 29^th of July, 2009. The instrument includes two stacks of radiation sensing elements: the `dark´ and `light´ towers. The displacement damage was measured, both through the increase of a photodiode dark current (`dark tower´), and the decrease of the photocurrent signal in a photodiode optically linked to an IRED (`light tower´). The instrument was also designed to monitor the ionization current of the photodiodes and it can monitor variations in the proton flux in the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA).

Keywords

artificial satellites; photoconductivity; photodiodes; photoemission; proton detection; space vehicle electronics; NANOSAT 1B - Las Dos Torres; South Atlantic Anomaly; The Two Towers; dark tower; displacement damage; ionization current; light tower; photocurrent signal; photodiode; photodiode dark current; proton flux; proton monitor Las Dos Torres; radiation sensing element; Current measurement; Extraterrestrial measurements; Floors; Orbits; Photodiodes; Protons; Displacement damage; Ionizing Simulation; Proton detector; Radiation monitoring; Space weather measurements;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Radiation and Its Effects on Components and Systems (RADECS), 2011 12th European Conference on

Conference_Location

Sevilla

ISSN

0379-6566

Print_ISBN

978-1-4577-0585-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RADECS.2011.6131441

Filename

6131441