Collaborative Research: CubeSat Firefly--Understanding Earth's Most Powerful Natural Particle Accelerator

合作研究：CubeSat Firefly——了解地球上最强大的天然粒子加速器

• 批准号: 0838037
• 负责人: Douglas Rowland
• 金额: $ 42.53万
• 依托单位: NASA/GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Interagency Agreement
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-10-01 至 2011-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0838037&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; CubeSat; Firefly; Understanding

The goal of the Firefly cubesat is to unambiguously determine if Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes (TGFs) are produced by lightning, and to determine the characteristics of lightning that produce the fluxes of gamma rays observed at high altitude. This information will strongly constrain the processes that accelerate electrons to ~35 million electron volts (MeV) above thunderstorms, since these electrons are thought to be the source of TGFs. Firefly will detect a minimum of 50 TGFs, with a goal of more than 200, to definitively determine the types of lightning that produce gamma rays. TGFs are of inherent interest, as they result from the most powerful natural particle acceleration process on Earth, in which thermal electrons are energized to tens of MeV in less than 1 millisecond. These energized electrons create copious bremsstrahlung gamma and X-rays that can be observed from orbiting platforms, and the electrons themselves may escape to magnetospheric altitudes and populate the inner electron radiation belt. By studying the TGF phenomena and the acceleration processes responsible for them on Earth, the investigators will improve understanding of other regimes of electron acceleration, including the radiation belts, solar flares, cosmic shocks, and other planets, including Venus, the outer planets, and dust devils and dust storms on Mars. Firefly CubeSat satellite will be designed, built, tested, and operated on-orbit as part of this project. Firefly consists of two instruments: a gamma-ray detector (GRD) and a very low frequency receiver/ photometer experiment (VP). GRD will measure photons between 10 keV - 10 MeV, and up-going energetic electrons over an energy range of 10 keV to a few MeV. The Firefly team is a collaboration between the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Siena College, with the Hawk Institute for Space Sciences serving as the spacecraft bus provider, and the systems engineering, education, and public outreach lead. Students will be involved in all aspects of the project, from design and development, through fabrication and test, to mission operations and data analysis. Firefly will help to train undergraduate students at Siena College and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), as they get hands-on experience designing, building, testing, and operating the spacecraft, as well as analyzing the data. Local high school students and interns will also have access to the Firefly data, educational materials, and website. Finally, the Firefly project includes the installation of two World Wide Lightning Location Network ground stations at Siena and UMES, giving the students access to a tool that can be used for many data analysis projects, and that will be a permanent addition to the educational infrastructure at these institutions. Firefly will support the development of a website, with continuous updates on the development of the instrument and spacecraft, and on-orbit mission status, open access to the data and science results, a "data users' manual", and a Firefly manual, including lessons.

萤火虫立方体卫星的目标是明确地确定地面伽马射线闪电(TGFs)是否由闪电产生，并确定产生在高海拔观测到的伽马射线通量的闪电的特征。这一信息将强烈限制将电子加速到雷暴以上约3500万电子伏特(MeV)的过程，因为这些电子被认为是TGFs的来源。Firefly将探测至少50个TGFs，目标是超过200个，以确定产生伽马射线的闪电类型。TGFs本身就很有趣，因为它们是地球上最强大的自然粒子加速过程的结果，在这个过程中，热电子在不到1毫秒的时间内被激发到数十MeV。这些带电的电子产生了大量的韧致辐射伽马射线和X射线，可以从轨道平台上观察到，电子本身可能逃逸到磁层高度，并填充内部电子辐射带。通过研究转化生长因子现象及其在地球上的加速过程，研究人员将提高对其他电子加速机制的了解，包括辐射带、太阳耀斑、宇宙激波和其他行星，包括金星、外行星以及火星上的尘暴和尘暴。作为该项目的一部分，萤火虫立方体卫星将在轨道上设计、建造、测试和运行。萤火虫由两台仪器组成：伽马射线探测器(GRD)和甚低频接收器/光度计实验(VP)。GRD将测量10keV-10 MeV之间的光子，以及10keV到几MeV能量范围内的上行高能电子。萤火虫团队是美国国家航空航天局戈达德航天飞行中心和锡耶纳学院的合作伙伴，鹰空间科学研究所担任航天器巴士供应商，系统工程、教育和公共宣传领导。学生将参与该项目的所有方面，从设计和开发，到制造和测试，到任务操作和数据分析。Firefly将帮助锡耶纳学院和马里兰大学东岸分校(UMES)的本科生进行培训，因为他们将获得设计、建造、测试和操作航天器的实践经验，以及分析数据。当地的高中生和实习生也可以访问萤火虫的数据、教育材料和网站。最后，Firefly项目包括在锡耶纳和UMES安装两个全球闪电定位网络地面站，使学生能够使用可用于许多数据分析项目的工具，这将是这些机构教育基础设施的永久补充。《萤火虫》将支持开发一个网站，不断更新仪器和航天器的发展情况、在轨飞行任务状态、开放获取数据和科学成果、《数据用户手册》和《萤火虫手册》，其中包括课程。