Science Goals and Overview of the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma (ECT) Suite on NASA’s Van Allen Probes Mission
Science Goals and Overview of the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma (ECT) Suite on NASA’s Van Allen Probes Mission
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DOI：
10.1007/s11214-013-0007-5
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发表时间：
2013-10
影响因子：
10.3
通讯作者：
H. Spence;G. Reeves;D. N. Baker;J. Blake;M. Bolton;Sebastien Bourdarie;Anthony A. Chan;S. Claude
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
H. Spence;G. Reeves;D. N. Baker;J. Blake;M. Bolton;Sebastien Bourdarie;Anthony A. Chan;S. Claude
辐射带风暴探测器（RBSP）-高能粒子、成分和热等离子体（ECT）套件包含一套创新的粒子仪器，以确保在内磁层和辐射带进行最高质量的测量。协调RBSP-ECT粒子测量，结合场和波的观测和国家的最先进的理论和建模分析，是必要的理解加速，全球分布，辐射带电子和离子的变化，美国宇航局的生活与星星计划和货车艾伦探测器使命的关键科学目标。RBSP-ECT套件由三个高度协调的仪器组成：磁电子离子谱仪（MagEIS），氦氧质子电子（HOPE）传感器和相对论电子质子望远镜（REPT）。他们共同覆盖，连续，完整的电子和离子光谱从一个电子伏特到10的MeV，具有足够的能量分辨率，俯仰角覆盖范围和分辨率，并在临界能量范围高达50千电子伏，也从几个到50兆电子伏/核子的组成测量。所有这三种仪器都是基于在辐射带中得到验证的测量技术。这些仪器使用这些经过验证的技术沿着创新的新设计，针对最极端条件下的操作进行了优化，以便即使在极端穿透背景环境中也能提供明确的离子和电子分离以及清洁的能量响应。ECT航天仪器在恶劣辐射带环境中的设计、制造和操作确保粒子测量具有回答关键使命科学问题所需的保真度。ECT仪器的详细信息在同一期的配套论文中提供。在本文中，我们描述了货车艾伦探测器航天器上的RBSP-ECT仪器套件在总体使命目标背景下的科学目标，指出仪器的特性如何满足实现这些目标的要求，提供有关科学数据收集和传播的信息，并以一些早期使命结果的描述作为结束。
The Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP)-Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma (ECT) suite contains an innovative complement of particle instruments to ensure the highest quality measurements ever made in the inner magnetosphere and radiation belts. The coordinated RBSP-ECT particle measurements, analyzed in combination with fields and waves observations and state-of-the-art theory and modeling, are necessary for understanding the acceleration, global distribution, and variability of radiation belt electrons and ions, key science objectives of NASA’s Living With a Star program and the Van Allen Probes mission. The RBSP-ECT suite consists of three highly-coordinated instruments: the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS), the Helium Oxygen Proton Electron (HOPE) sensor, and the Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope (REPT). Collectively they cover, continuously, the full electron and ion spectra from one eV to 10’s of MeV with sufficient energy resolution, pitch angle coverage and resolution, and with composition measurements in the critical energy range up to 50 keV and also from a few to 50 MeV/nucleon. All three instruments are based on measurement techniques proven in the radiation belts. The instruments use those proven techniques along with innovative new designs, optimized for operation in the most extreme conditions in order to provide unambiguous separation of ions and electrons and clean energy responses even in the presence of extreme penetrating background environments. The design, fabrication and operation of ECT spaceflight instrumentation in the harsh radiation belt environment ensure that particle measurements have the fidelity needed for closure in answering key mission science questions. ECT instrument details are provided in companion papers in this same issue.In this paper, we describe the science objectives of the RBSP-ECT instrument suite on the Van Allen Probe spacecraft within the context of the overall mission objectives, indicate how the characteristics of the instruments satisfy the requirements to achieve these objectives, provide information about science data collection and dissemination, and conclude with a description of some early mission results.