BackForwardInstrument:  EPD (PROBA-V) 

Instrument details
Acronym EPD (PROBA-V)
Full name Energetic Particle Telescope
Purpose Measurement of energetic particles in the platform environment
Short description

Two particle telescopes, one for low and one for high energies, measuring the energy deposited by charged particles into twelve sensitive elements to cover a circular field of view of 50*. Energy ranges: 0.2-10 MeV (electrons), 4-300 MeV (protons) and 16-1000 MeV (alpha-particles). 

Instrument monitoring and calibration here
Background

Part of a PROBA-V technological package
Scanning Technique

N/A (in-situ measurement)
Resolution N/A
Coverage / Cycle N/A
Mass 6 kg Power 6 W Data Rate

 

Providing Agency ESA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2013 to 2021
Last update: 2024-09-23
Detailed characteristics
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Solar and space environment monitors
  • Energetic particle spectrometer
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 1
  • In-situ plasma probes, and energetic particle spectrometers and magnetometers at GEO and LEO, and magnetic field at GEO
  • Electron sensor at LEO
  • Proton sensor at LEO
  • Alpha-particle sensor at LEO
  • Plasma density sensor at LEO
  • Plasma temperature sensor at LEO
  • Plasma velocity sensor at LEO
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Alpha particles differential directional flux
  • Electron differential directional flux
  • Proton differential directional flux
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Electron differential directional flux*4 - fairNo specific limitation.Sun pointing, medium and high energy (over 40 to over 400 keV)
Proton differential directional flux*4 - fairNo specific limitation.Sun pointing, high energy (over 1000 keV)
Alpha particles differential directional flux*1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Sun-pointing. Extended energy range (<10 to >100 MeV/n)
Solar wind density1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Solar viewing. Infrerred from Proton. Electron and Alpha-particle spectroscopy
Solar wind temperature1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Solar viewing. Infrerred from Proton. Electron and Alpha-particle spectroscopy
Solar wind velocity1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Solar viewing. Infrerred from Proton. Electron and Alpha-particle spectroscopy