2024: To measure the high-energy particle fluxes around the Earth. It is the three dimensional successor of EPT.
The three Dimensional Energetic Electron Spectrometer (3DEES) is an instrument developed to measure the high-energy particle fluxes around the Earth. It is a successor of the Energetic Particle Telescope (EPT) with additional possibility of measuring in 3D. 3DEES measures the energy deposited by charged particles into Panoramic Spectrometer Modules to determine the angular distribution of electrons and protons at up to six angles spanning over 180° in a plane. BIRA-IASB’s Engineering service contributed mainly to the design and manufacturing of structural mechanics.
Launch: December 5, 2024
3D CAD drawing of the 3DEES instrument
Spacecrafts circling the Earth travel through environments with many types of radiation, sometimes highly variable and very intense. The origin of the energetic particles can be multiple: coming from solar events or from high-energy cosmic rays from inside or outside our galaxy. Impacting particles can be electrons, protons, or heavy ions. Impact of radiation on spacecraft can have catastrophic consequences, e.g. malfunctioning of satellite systems or payload electronics.
Missions in near-Earth orbits encounter intense, highly variable energetic electron environments. In the outer radiation belt the intensities of energetic electrons (100 keV–10 MeV) can be extremely high and result in various serious problems for spacecrafts. To characterize and predict the environment in this large volume of space, two complementary approaches are adopted:
- fly radiation monitors on as many spacecrafts in this region as possible
- use advanced physical models of the space weather processes at work.
3DEES sensor stack module
One of the key inputs for modelling are directionally resolved energy spectra. In the lower energy range, accurate measurements of the seed electron population will help monitoring of particle injection and acceleration mechanisms and ultimately lead to a better understanding of the dynamics of the high energy component of the radiation belt population. Since the magnetic field traps particles, observing fluxes in different directions w.r.t. the field at a point can be used to infer the distribution at other locations.
The 3DEES instrument provides high fidelity directional measurements (angular resolution of 15°) of the energy spectra and temporal variations of energetic electrons encountered in near-Earth space. The instrument covers the electron energy ranges required as input to space weather models and products and relevant for future European missions and technologies encountering the outer radiation belt environment.
3DEES measures in the following energy range:
- Electrons: 100 keV-10 MeV (32 channels);
- Protons: 4 MeV-50 MeV (32 channels).
The sensor part of the 3DEES instrument
The 3DEES instrument fully assembled (optical part, electronics part and harness)
Read more:
Up down front back left right … charged particles everywhere (Annual report article 2021-2022)
