Speaker
Description
The 3D Energetic Electron Spectrometer (3DEES) has been designed as a compact science-class instrument that is optimized for the measurement of angle-resolved electron spectra in the energy range 0.1 - 10 MeV in the Earth’s radiation belts. It also allows to quantify proton fluxes in the energy range 2.5 to 50 MeV.
On 5th December 2024, a demonstrator model of the instrument (measuring simultaneously from 6 directions) was launched on board PROBA-3 into a highly elliptical orbit: 60530 km apogee, 600 km perigee, 59° inclination, 19.7 hours orbital period. With these orbital parameters, the satellite is covering parts of the inner belt, outer belt and mostly the border of the inner-magnetosphere. Thus, the primary objective of the 3DEES mission is to provide an accurate characterization of the energetic electron population in the magnetosphere for scientific studies of their acceleration and loss processes, by measuring angle-resolved energy spectra. Those latter may also be used to enhance the predictions of advanced physics models that work in an “assimilation” architecture where boundary conditions are measurements. In addition, the mission targets to deliver Space Weather data for now- and forecasting activities.
A week after its launch, the instrument was switched on for the first time and a health test showed that all sensors were operating nominally. Later the ability of 3DEES to measure direction-resolved energy spectra was verified and first estimations of anisotropy factors were performed.
The presentation will give a brief overview of the 3DEES instrument onboard PROBA-3, present primary results on pitch angle distributions and summarize future plans for its first mission.
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