Abstract
The Low-Energy Telescope (LET) is one of four sensors that make up the Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) instrument of the IMPACT investigation for NASA’s STEREO mission. The LET is designed to measure the elemental composition, energy spectra, angular distributions, and arrival times of H to Ni ions over the energy range from ∼3 to ∼30 MeV/nucleon. It will also identify the rare isotope 3He and trans-iron nuclei with 30≤Z≤83. The SEP measurements from the two STEREO spacecraft will be combined with data from ACE and other 1-AU spacecraft to provide multipoint investigations of the energetic particles that result from interplanetary shocks driven by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and from solar flare events. The multipoint in situ observations of SEPs and solar-wind plasma will complement STEREO images of CMEs in order to investigate their role in space weather. Each LET instrument includes a sensor system made up of an array of 14 solid-state detectors composed of 54 segments that are individually analyzed by custom Pulse Height Analysis System Integrated Circuits (PHASICs). The signals from four PHASIC chips in each LET are used by a Minimal Instruction Set Computer (MISC) to provide onboard particle identification of a dozen species in ∼12 energy intervals at event rates of ∼1,000 events/sec. An additional control unit, called SEP Central, gathers data from the four SEP sensors, controls the SEP bias supply, and manages the interfaces to the sensors and the SEP interface to the Instrument Data Processing Unit (IDPU). This article outlines the scientific objectives that LET will address, describes the design and operation of LET and the SEP Central electronics, and discusses the data products that will result.
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Abbreviations
- ACE:
-
Advanced Composition Explorer
- ACR:
-
Anomalous Cosmic Ray
- ADC:
-
Analog-to-Digital Converter
- ALU:
-
Arithmetic Logic Unit
- ApID:
-
Application process Identifier
- ASCII:
-
American Standard Code for Information Interchange
- ASIC:
-
Application Specific Integrated Circuit
- C&DH:
-
Command and Data Handling
- CCSDS:
-
Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems
- CF:
-
Correction Factor
- CIR:
-
Corotating Interaction Region
- CME:
-
Coronal Mass Ejection
- CMOS:
-
Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor
- CNO:
-
Carbon, Nitrogen, and Oxygen element group
- CPU:
-
Central Processing Unit
- CPU24:
-
GSFC version of MISC
- CRIS:
-
Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer
- CV:
-
Capacitance (C) vs. Voltage (V)
- DAC:
-
Digital-to-Analog Converter
- DC:
-
Direct Current
- DPU:
-
Data Processing Unit
- EEPROM:
-
Electronically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
- EGSE:
-
Electrical Ground Support Equipment
- EM:
-
Engineering Model
- EOR:
-
End of Record
- EPAM:
-
Electron, Proton, and Alpha Monitor
- EPHIN:
-
Electron Proton Helium Instrument (SoHO)
- ERH:
-
Event Record Header
- ESA:
-
European Space Agency
- ESP:
-
Energetic Storm Particles
- EUV:
-
Extreme Ultraviolet
- E/M:
-
Energy/nucleon
- FET:
-
Field Effect Transistor
- FM1:
-
Flight Model 1
- FM2:
-
Flight Model 2
- FOV:
-
Field Of View
- FPGA:
-
Field-Programmable Gate Array
- FR4:
-
Flame Resistant 4 (printed circuit board material)
- F.S.:
-
Full scale
- GALEX:
-
Galaxy Evolution Explorer
- GCR:
-
Galactic Cosmic Ray
- GEANT:
-
Geometry And Tracking (A toolkit for the simulation of particles through matter)
- GOES:
-
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
- GSE:
-
Ground Support Equipment
- GSFC:
-
Goddard Space Flight Center
- HAZ:
-
“HAZard” event
- HET:
-
High Energy Telescope
- HV:
-
High Voltage
- HVPS:
-
High Voltage Power Supply
- I/F:
-
Interface
- I/O:
-
Input/Output
- ICD:
-
Interface Control Document
- ICME:
-
Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejection
- ID:
-
Identification
- IDPU:
-
IMPACT Data Processing Unit
- IMF:
-
Interplanetary Magnetic Field
- IMP:
-
Interplanetary Monitoring Platform
- IMPACT:
-
In situ Measurements of Particles And CME Transients
- ISEE-3:
-
International Sun-Earth Explorer 3
- ISM:
-
Interstellar Medium
- IT:
-
Information Technology
- ITAR:
-
International Traffic in Arms Regulations
- ITO:
-
Indium Tin Oxide
- IV:
-
Leakage current (I) vs. Voltage (V)
- JPL:
-
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- LBL:
-
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
- LEMT:
-
Low Energy Matrix Telescope
- LET:
-
Low Energy Telescope
- LiBeB:
-
Lithium, Beryllium, and Boron element group
- LVPS:
-
Low Voltage Power Supply
- MAG:
-
Magnetometer
- MISC:
-
Minimal Instruction Set Computer
- MRD:
-
Mission Requirements Document
- MSU:
-
Michigan State University
- NASA:
-
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- NASTRAN:
-
NASA Structural Analysis system
- NeMgSi:
-
Neon, Magnesium, and Silicon element group
- NOAA:
-
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- NSCL:
-
National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory
- OGO:
-
Orbiting Geophysical Observatory
- PDFE:
-
Particle Detector Front End
- PEN:
-
Penetrating event
- PHA:
-
Pulse Height Analyzer
- PHASIC:
-
Pulse Height Analysis System Integrated Circuit
- PLASTIC:
-
Plasma And Suprathermal Ion Composition
- PSI:
-
Pounds per Square Inch
- RHESSI:
-
Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager
- RISC:
-
Reduced Instruction Set Computer
- RTSW:
-
Real-Time Solar Wind
- SAMPEX:
-
Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer
- SDO:
-
Solar Dynamics Observatory
- SECCHI:
-
Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation
- SEP:
-
Solar Energetic Particle
- SEPT:
-
Solar Electron Proton Telescope
- SEPT-E:
-
Ecliptic-viewing component of SEPT
- SEPT-NS:
-
North/South viewing component of SEPT
- SIS:
-
Solar Isotope Spectrometer
- SIT:
-
Suprathermal Ion Telescope
- SOHO:
-
Solar Heliospheric Observatory
- SRAM:
-
Static Random Access Memory
- SRL:
-
Space Radiation Laboratory
- SSD:
-
Solid-State Detector
- STEREO:
-
Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory
- STIM:
-
Stimulated (pulser-produced) event
- SWAVES:
-
STEREO/WAVES Radio and Plasma Wave Experiment
- TCP/IP:
-
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
- TOF:
-
Time Of Flight
- UCB:
-
University of California Berkeley
- UH:
-
Ultra-Heavy
- ULEIS:
-
Ultra-Low Energy Isotope Spectrometer
- UT:
-
Universal Time
- VLSI:
-
Very Large Scale Integration
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Mewaldt, R.A., Cohen, C.M.S., Cook, W.R. et al. The Low-Energy Telescope (LET) and SEP Central Electronics for the STEREO Mission. Space Sci Rev 136, 285–362 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-007-9288-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-007-9288-x