Science Objectives and Rationale for the Radiation Belt Storm Probes Mission
TLDR
The NASA Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission as discussed by the authors uses two spacecraft making in situ measurements for at least 2 years in nearly the same highly elliptical, low inclination orbits (1.1×5.8 RE, 10∘).Abstract:
The NASA Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission addresses how populations of high energy charged particles are created, vary, and evolve in space environments, and specifically within Earth’s magnetically trapped radiation belts. RBSP, with a nominal launch date of August 2012, comprises two spacecraft making in situ measurements for at least 2 years in nearly the same highly elliptical, low inclination orbits (1.1×5.8 RE, 10∘). The orbits are slightly different so that 1 spacecraft laps the other spacecraft about every 2.5 months, allowing separation of spatial from temporal effects over spatial scales ranging from ∼0.1 to 5 RE. The uniquely comprehensive suite of instruments, identical on the two spacecraft, measures all of the particle (electrons, ions, ion composition), fields (E and B), and wave distributions (d E and d B) that are needed to resolve the most critical science questions. Here we summarize the high level science objectives for the RBSP mission, provide historical background on studies of Earth and planetary radiation belts, present examples of the most compelling scientific mysteries of the radiation belts, present the mission design of the RBSP mission that targets these mysteries and objectives, present the observation and measurement requirements for the mission, and introduce the instrumentation that will deliver these measurements. This paper references and is followed by a number of companion papers that describe the details of the RBSP mission, spacecraft, and instruments.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Electron Acceleration in the Heart of the Van Allen Radiation Belts
Geoffrey D. Reeves,Harlan E. Spence,Michael G. Henderson,Steven K. Morley,R. H. W. Friedel,Herbert O. Funsten,Daniel N. Baker,Shrikanth Kanekal,J. B. Blake,J. F. Fennell,Seth G. Claudepierre,Richard M. Thorne,Drew Turner,Craig Kletzing,William S. Kurth,Brian A. Larsen,J. T. Niehof +16 more
TL;DR: Measurements from NASA’s Van Allen Radiation Belt Storm Probes are reported that clearly distinguish between the two types of acceleration, and the observed radial profiles of phase space density are characteristic of local acceleration in the heart of the radiation belts and are inconsistent with a predominantly radial acceleration process.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescope (REPT) Instrument on Board the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Spacecraft: Characterization of Earth’s Radiation Belt High-Energy Particle Populations
Daniel N. Baker,Shrikanth Kanekal,V. Hoxie,Susan N. Batiste,M. Bolton,Xinlin Li,Scot R. Elkington,S. Monk,R. Reukauf,S. Steg,J. Westfall,C. Belting,B. Bolton,D. Braun,B. Cervelli,K. Hubbell,M. Kien,S. Knappmiller,S. Wade,Bret Lamprecht,K. Stevens,J. Wallace,A. Yehle,Harlan E. Spence,R. H. W. Friedel +24 more
TL;DR: The Relativistic Electron-Proton Telescope (REPT) as mentioned in this paper was designed for the Radiation Belt Storm Probe (RBSP) pair of spacecraft to measure high-energy electrons (up to ∼20 MeV) with excellent sensitivity and also measured magnetospheric and solar protons to energies well above E=100 MeV.
Journal ArticleDOI
A long-lived relativistic electron storage ring embedded in Earth's outer Van Allen belt.
Daniel N. Baker,Shrikanth Kanekal,V. Hoxie,Michael G. Henderson,Xinlin Li,Harlan E. Spence,Scot R. Elkington,R. H. W. Friedel,Jerry Goldstein,Mary K. Hudson,Geoffrey D. Reeves,Richard M. Thorne,Craig Kletzing,Seth G. Claudepierre +13 more
TL;DR: In situ energy-specific and temporally resolved spacecraft observations reveal an isolated third ring, or torus, of high-energy electrons that formed on 2 September 2012 and persisted largely unchanged in the geocentric radial range of 3.0 to ~3.5 Earth radii for more than 4 weeks before being disrupted (and virtually annihilated) by a powerful interplanetary shock wave passage.
Journal ArticleDOI
Geospace exploration project ERG
Yoshizumi Miyoshi,Iku Shinohara,Takeshi Takashima,Kazushi Asamura,Nana Higashio,Takefumi Mitani,Satoshi Kasahara,Shoichiro Yokota,Yoichi Kazama,Shiang-Yu Wang,Sunny W. Y. Tam,Paul T. P. Ho,Yoshiya Kasahara,Yasumasa Kasaba,Satoshi Yagitani,Ayako Matsuoka,Hirotsugu Kojima,Yuto Katoh,Kazuo Shiokawa,Kanako Seki +19 more
TL;DR: The Exploration of energization and radiation in Geospace (ERG) project explores the acceleration, transport, and loss of relativistic electrons in the radiation belts and the dynamics for geospace storms.
Journal ArticleDOI
Radiation belt electron acceleration by chorus waves during the 17 March 2013 storm
Wen Li,Richard M. Thorne,Qianli Ma,Binbin Ni,Jacob Bortnik,Daniel N. Baker,Harlan E. Spence,Geoffrey D. Reeves,Shrikanth Kanekal,Janet C. Green,Craig Kletzing,William S. Kurth,George Hospodarsky,J. B. Blake,Joseph F. Fennell,Seth G. Claudepierre +15 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors quantitatively evaluate chorus-driven electron acceleration during the 17 March 2013 storm, when the Van Allen Probes observed very rapid electron acceleration up to several MeV within ~12 hours.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
A magnetospheric magnetic field model with a warped tail current sheet
TL;DR: In this article, an improved quantitative representation of the magnetic field in the geomagnetosphere is developed, taking into account the effect of warping the tail current sheet in two dimensions due to the geodipole tilt, as well as spatial variations of the current sheet thickness along the Sun-Earth and dawn-dusk directions.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science (EMFISIS) on RBSP
Craig Kletzing,William S. Kurth,Mario H. Acuña,Robert J. MacDowall,Roy B. Torbert,T. F. Averkamp,D. Bodet,Scott R. Bounds,M. Chutter,John E. P. Connerney,D. Crawford,J. S. Dolan,R. T. Dvorsky,George Hospodarsky,J. Howard,Vania K. Jordanova,R. A. Johnson,D. L. Kirchner,B. T. Mokrzycki,G. Needell,J. Odom,D. Mark,R. F. Pfaff,J. R. Phillips,Chris Piker,S. L. Remington,Douglas E. Rowland,Ondrej Santolik,R. Schnurr,D. Sheppard,Charles W. Smith,Richard M. Thorne,J. Tyler +32 more
TL;DR: The Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument and Integrated Science (EMFISIS) investigation on the NASA Radiation Belt Storm Probes (now named the Van Allen Probes) mission provides key wave and very low frequency magnetic field measurements to understand radiation belt acceleration, loss, and transport.
Journal ArticleDOI
Coordinates for Mapping the Distribution of Magnetically Trapped Particles
TL;DR: In this article, it is shown that a parameter L = f(B,I) can be defined which retains most of the desirable properties of I and has the additional property of organizing measurements along lines of force.
Related Papers (5)
The Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science (EMFISIS) on RBSP
Craig Kletzing,William S. Kurth,Mario H. Acuña,Robert J. MacDowall,Roy B. Torbert,T. F. Averkamp,D. Bodet,Scott R. Bounds,M. Chutter,John E. P. Connerney,D. Crawford,J. S. Dolan,R. T. Dvorsky,George Hospodarsky,J. Howard,Vania K. Jordanova,R. A. Johnson,D. L. Kirchner,B. T. Mokrzycki,G. Needell,J. Odom,D. Mark,R. F. Pfaff,J. R. Phillips,Chris Piker,S. L. Remington,Douglas E. Rowland,Ondrej Santolik,R. Schnurr,D. Sheppard,Charles W. Smith,Richard M. Thorne,J. Tyler +32 more