Proton Spectrometer Belt Research (PSBR)
Abstract
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), NASA, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Aerospace Corporation, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have jointly formed the Proton Spectrometer Belt Research (PSBR) program to meet two primary objectives: to measure the high-energy proton spectrum by placing the Relativistic Proton Spectrometer (RPS) instrument on board the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) spacecraft to measure the inner Van Allen belt protons with energies from 50 MeV to 2 GeV, and to produce the next generation radiation belt models. Presently, the intensity of trapped protons with energies beyond about 150 MeV is not well known and thought to be underestimated in existing specification models. Such protons are known to pose a number of hazards to astronauts and spacecraft; including total ionizing dose, displacement damage, single event effects, and nuclear activation. The RPS addresses a priority highly ranked by the scientific and technical community and will extend the measurement capability of the RBSP mission to a range beyond that originally planned. The PSBR program will use the RPS data, coupled with other data sets, to upgrade existing radiation belt models, significantly improving the radiation hazards specified by increasing the spectral and spatial coverage, and the time-correlated probability of occurrence statistics, quantifying the model accuracy and uncertainty.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2008
- Bibcode:
- 2008AGUFM.U13A0037D
- Keywords:
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- 2720 Energetic particles: trapped;
- 2730 Magnetosphere: inner;
- 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics;
- 2774 Radiation belts