Study of the radiation fields in LEO with the Space Application of Timepix Radiation Monitor (SATRAM)

Abstract

We present the analysis of data taken by the Space Application of Timepix Radiation Monitor (SATRAM). It is centred on a Timepix detector (300 μm thick silicon sensor, pixel pitch 55 μm, 256 × 256 pixels). It was flown on Proba-V, an Earth observing satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) from an altitude of 820 km on a sun-synchronous orbit, launched on May 7, 2013. A Monte Carlo simulation was conducted to determine the detector response to electrons (0.5–7 MeV) and protons (10–400 MeV) in an omnidirectional field taking into account the shielding of the detector housing and the satellite. With the help of the simulation, a strategy was developed to separate electrons, protons and ions in the data. The measured dose rate and stopping power distribution are presented as well as SATRAM’s capability to measure some of the stronger events in Earth’s magnetosphere. The stopping power, the cluster height and the shape of the particle tracks in the sensor were used to separate electrons, protons and ions. The results are presented as well. Finally, the pitch angles for a short period of time were extracted from the data and corrected with the angular response determined by the simulation.