Instrument Control Unit for the EPD on board Solar Orbiter
Abstract
Undoubtedly, Solar Orbiter is the leading mission of the European Space Agency for studying the Sun in the current decade. Its elliptical orbit around the Sun, with a perihelion as low as 0.28 AU and with an increasing inclination of up to more than 25° with respect to the solar equator, makes it ideal for an in-situ environmental study. This study will provide the key to determine how does the Sun create and control the heliosphere, which is the main objective of this mission. One of the ten instruments that are part of the Solar Orbiter's payload is the Energetic Particle Detector (EPD). Its main objective is to measure the composition, timing and distribution functions of suprathermal and energetic particles. Scientific topics to be addressed include the sources, acceleration mechanisms, and transport processes of these particles. EPD is composed of four sensors (STEIN, EPT, HET and SIS), distributed along the spacecraft, and an Instrument Control Unit or ICU. The sensors are able to measure electrons in the energy range from 0.002 to 20 MeV, protons from 0.003 to 100 MeV and nucleons of He to Fe in the range of 0.008 to 200 MeV/n. The ICU is the sole interface with the spacecraft, providing control, communication and data processing to the sensors. Due to the strong reliability requirements associated to the ICU, special care has been taken in the hardware, software and mechanical designs. In this work the development status of the ICU, together with its hardware and software architectures, design decisions and tools are presented.
- Publication:
-
AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- May 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUSMSH53A..02S
- Keywords:
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- 7514 SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY / Energetic particles;
- 1999 INFORMATICS / General or miscellaneous