Charged-particle telescope experiment on Clementine

Abstract

The charged-particle telescope (CPT) onboard the Clementine spacecraft measured the fluxes of energetic protons emitted in solar energetic particle events. Protons in the energy range from 10 to 80 MeV were of greatest interest for radiation effects such as total dose and single event upsets. Energetic electrons were also of interest for spacecraft charging and their contribution to total dose. The lower-energy CPT electron channels (25-500 keV) were mainly of geophysical interest. While orbiting the moon, the CPT observed the wake created by the moon when it blocked the flow of energetic particles in the magnetotail region. The CPT provided opportunities to observe energetic electron bursts during magnetic storms and magnetospheric substorms. CPT data are particularly useful in multispacecraft studies of interplanetary disturbances and their interaction with the magnetosphere. The proton channels on the CPT provided data on solar energetic protons and storm-time protons associated with the passage of an interplanetary shock at 0903 UT on Feb. 21, 1994. Results are compared with those from GOES-7, SAMPEX, and GEOTAIL.