The Procedures and Lessons Learned from On-Orbit Calibration of iMESA-R on STPSat-3
Abstract
We present the procedure for on-orbit calibration of a plasma environment sensor designated the improved Miniaturized Electro-Static Analyzer (iMESA-R). iMESA-R is a test instrument on-board STPSat-3 operated by the DoD's Space Test Program (STP) developed by the Space Physics and Atmospheric Research Center (SPARC) at the US Air Force Academy. The satellite was launched on 19-November, 2013 and has been operating nearly continuously since 1-December, 2013. We investigate techniques to determine the uncertainty in derived instrument parameters and mature the iMESA-R technology for future instruments. The digisonde network and the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) provide the opportunity to validate measurements of ion density and ion temperature against a large number of calibrated measurement sites. The lessons learned while comparing the instrument data with additional sources and validating on flight data will be applied to the five sequential IMESA instruments that have reached orbit in the last year. We will discuss the results of the data validation process for March, 2015 and the major sources of uncertainty identified.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMSA33B3154W
- Keywords:
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- 2194 Instruments and techniques;
- INTERPLANETARY PHYSICS;
- 2794 Instruments and techniques;
- MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS;
- 7594 Instruments and techniques;
- SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY;
- 7894 Instruments and techniques;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS