Abstract
Abstract. The flux of energetic light ions at low altitude is both an important input and output for self-consistent calculations of albedo particles resulting from the interaction of trapped and cosmic ray particles, with the upper atmosphere. In addition, data on the flux of light ions are needed to evaluate radiation damages on space-borne instruments and on space mission crews. In spite of that, sources of data on the flux of energetic ions at LEO are roughly limited to the AP-8 model, CREME/CREME96 codes and the SAMPEX, NOAA/TIROS satellites. The existing and operational European SAC-C/ICARE and PROBA-1/SREM instruments could also be potential sources for proton data at LEO. Although AP-8 and SAMPEX/PSB97 may be publicly accessed through the SPENVIS, they exhibit an order of magnitude difference in low altitude proton fluxes and they do not contain helium fluxes. Therefore, improved light ion radiation models are still needed. In this paper we present a procedure to identify and measure the energy of ions that are not stopped in the NINA-2 instrument. Moreover, problems related to particles that cross the instrument in the opposite direction are addressed and shown to be a possible cause of particle misidentification. Measuring fluxes of low abundance elements like energetic helium ions requires a good characterisation of all possible sources of backgrounds in the detector. Hints to determine the several contributions to the background are presented herein and may be applied to extract an order of magnitude of energetic ions fluxes from existing data sets, while waiting for dedicated high performance instruments.
Highlights
The second flight model of the New Instrument for Nuclear Analysis (NINA-2) was launched on board the Italian satellite MITA (Minisatellite Italiano a Tecnologia Avanzata) on 15 July 2000
Sources of data on the flux of energetic ions at LEO are roughly limited to the AP-8 model, CREME/CREME96 codes and the SAMPEX, NOAA/TIROS satellites
AP-8 and SAMPEX/PSB97 may be publicly accessed through the SPENVIS, they exhibit an order of magnitude difference in low altitude proton fluxes and they do not contain helium fluxes
Summary
The second flight model of the New Instrument for Nuclear Analysis (NINA-2) was launched on board the Italian satellite MITA (Minisatellite Italiano a Tecnologia Avanzata) on 15 July 2000. Accurate measurements of charged particle fluxes at MITA altitude would provide valuable input data to validate either the AP8 inaccuracies or the code used to track energetic protons and its secondary ions through the shielding. Measurements and modelling of the flux of energetic alpha-particles would help to assess their direct or indirect contribution to SEU production in sensitive electronic devices at LEO (Dodd and Massengill, 2003). This kind of measurement would be complemented by data acquired on board the International Space Station (ISS).
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