Real-time monitoring of solar energetic particles outside the ISS with the AMS-02 instrument

Abstract

Space human activities in the International Space Station (ISS) are always ongoing. The atmosphere and geomagnetic field in this environment only offer partial protection from radiation. Considering the whole energetic spectrum of cosmic rays (CR), the highest energy particles are the most dangerous, but the rarest: on the other hand, sporadic solar emissions of plasma, in the low end of the energetic spectrum, inject an intense and dangerous flux of charged particles called Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) in the Sun-Earth environment. The experiment Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) operates on the ISS since 2011, performing precision measurements of cosmic ray composition and flux. In this study we aim to verify if the low latency information provided by AMS-02 could be used to perform SEP and solar activity real-time monitoring in the ISS external environment. An algorithm has been developed to identify sudden increases in the AMS-02 trigger rate with respect to the quiet conditions, demonstrating the potency of AMS-02 low-latency data for this real-time application.