BackForwardInstrument:  STEP-F 

Instrument details
Acronym STEP-F
Full name Satellite telescope of electrons and protons
Purpose To study the Earth radiation belt dynamics during solar and magnetospheric activity
Short description Set of detectors to register fluxes of: electrons in the energy range 0.4-14.3 MeV, protons in the energy range 9.8-61 MeV, and alpha-particles in the energy range 37-246 MeV.
Background Part of a package of instruments to monitor solar activity
Scanning Technique Interplanetary space observation from a high-inclination drifting LEO
Resolution N/A
Coverage / Cycle Full interplanetary space nearly continuous
Mass 13 kg Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency NSAU
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2009 to 2009
Last update: 2017-05-29
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
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Alpha particles integral directional flux
  • Electron integral directional flux
  • Proton integral 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 integral directional flux*3 - highNo specific limitation.Interplanetary space, medium and high energy (over 40 to over 400 keV)
Proton integral directional flux*3 - highNo specific limitation.Interplanetary space, high energy (over 1000 keV)
Alpha particles integral directional flux*2 - very highNo specific limitation.Interplanetary space. Low-medium energy range (<10 up to 100 MeV/n)