Assessment of Space Radiation in LEO Orbit on Czech CubeSat - VZLUSAT-1
Vladimír Dániel1, Tomas Baca2, Petr Svoboda1, Martin Jilek2, Carlos Granja3, Lenka Mikulickova4
1 Czech Aerospace Research Centre, Prague, Czech Republic
2 Czech Technical University, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Prague, Czech Republic
3 Advacam, Prague, Czech Republic
4 TTS, Prague, Czech Republic
Abstract
A miniaturized X-ray telescope operating in LEO orbit since 2017 on board the 2U CubeSat VZLUSAT-1 is equipped with the pixel Timepix detector as focal plane detector [1]. Besides the primary observation of X-rays, the detector registers also all charged particles including secondary radiation from the CubeSat structure. In addition, several semiconductor diodes are also on board to register the integrated radiation field behind composite materials for radiation shielding. Timepix data are collected in high-resolution (full frames) but mostly in reduced (pixel-binned) format. For the later, a conversion methodology has been developed to extract more complete radiation environment and dosimetry results from the binned data [2]. Earth-wide maps of the radiation field can be thus generated on regular basis. Results produced include particle-type resolving power. Results are compared and validated with detailed full-res Timepix data. Results from the diodes on board are included.
References
[1] T. Baca, M. Platkevic, J. Jakubek, et al., Miniaturized X-ray telescope for VZLUSAT-1 nanosatellite with Timepix detector, J. of Instrumentation 11 (2016) C10007.
[2] T. Baca, M. Jilek, I. Vertat, et al., Timepix in LEO orbit on board the VZLUSAT-1 nanosatellite: 1-year of space radiation dosimetry measurements, J. of Instrumentation JINST 13 (2018) C11010.
Acknowledgments
Research supported by Project TA04011295 of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.