Prototype Testing Results of Charged Particle Detectors and Critical Subsystems for the ESRA Mission to GTO

Presenter Information

Carlos A. Maldonado, Los Alamos National LaboratoryFollow
Jonathan Deming, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Brooke N. Mosley, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Justin McGlown, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Anthony Nelson, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Philip A. Fernandes, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Anthony J. Rogers, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Douglas Patrick, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Martin Kroupa, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Michael Caffrey, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Susan Mendel, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Kerry Boyd, Los Alamos National Laboratory
August Gula, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Kim Katko, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Markus P. Hehlen, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Daniel Arnold, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Jonathan Barney, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Ted Schultz, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Daniel B. Reisenfeld, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Ruth Skoug, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Angus Guider, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Michael Holloway, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Heidi Morning, Los Alamos National Laboratory
John T. Steinberg, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Erik Krause, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Andrew Kirby, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Darrel Beckman, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Justin Tripp, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Keith S. Morgan, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Zachary Miller, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Robert Merl, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Paul S. Graham, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Joshua Ortner, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Quinten Cole, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Chuck Clanton, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Brian A. Larsen, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Tom Fairbanks, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Jeffrey George, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Rory Scobie, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Kasidit Subsomboon, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Kristina McKeown, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Katherine Alano, Los Alamos National Laboratory
John Michel, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Darren Harvey, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Andrew Harvilla, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Donathan Ortega, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Session

Weekday Session 3: Science/Mission Payloads

Location

Utah State University, Logan, UT

Abstract

The Experiment for Space Radiation Analysis (ESRA) is the latest of a series of Demonstration and Validation (DemVal) missions built by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, with the focus on testing a new generation of plasma and energetic paritcle sensors along with critical subsystems. The primary motivation for the ESRA payloads is to minimize size, weight, power, and cost while still providing necessary mission data. These new instruments will be demonstrated by ESRA through ground-based testing and on-orbit operations to increase their technology readiness level such that they can support the evolution of technology and mission objectives. This project will leverage a commercial off-the-shelf CubeSat avionics bus and commercial satellite ground networks to reduce the cost and timeline associated with traditional DemVal missions. The system will launch as a ride share with the DoD Space Test Program to be inserted in Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and allow observations of the Earth's radiation belts. The ESRA CubeSat consists of two science payloads and several subsystems: the Wide field-of-view Plasma Spectrometer, the Energetic Charged Particle telescope, high voltage power supply, payload processor, flight software architecture, and distributed processor module. The ESRA CubeSat will provide measurements of the plasma and energetic charged particle populations in the GTO environment for ions ranging from ~100 eV to ~1000 MeV and electrons with energy ranging from 100 keV to 20 MeV. ESRA will utilize a commercial 12U bus and demonstrate a low-cost, rapidly deployable spaceflight platform with sufficient SWAP to enable efficient measurements of the charged particle populations in the dynamic radiation belts.