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© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

This work introduces the instrument design of the medium-energy proton detector (MEPD, detection range: 30 keV–5 MeV) mounted on the Chinese Fengyun-4B (FY-4B) satellite. Compared to a similar detector on the Fengyun-3E (FY-3E) satellite, this instrument has undergone significant changes due to the different orbital radiation environment and solar lighting conditions. Based on the calculation of the radiation model AP8, the geometrical factor is reduced to 0.002 cm2sr, while that of the MEPD on the FY-3E satellite is 0.005 cm2sr. Another difference is that the sensors in some directions are exposed to direct sunlight for 80 min every day on this orbit, depending on the attitude angle of the satellite, which is much worse than that on the FY-3E satellite. According to the calculation results of transmittance of photons through different materials, a 100 nm thickness nickel film is added in front of the sensors to eliminate light pollution completely. The test using a solar simulator shows that the measure is effective and the detector has no error count when the solar irradiance coefficient is 1.0. In addition, the Geant4 software is applied to simulate the particle transportation process under complete machine condition to check the contamination of electrons in the sensors in all directions after magnetic deflection. The data obtained in orbit show that the instrument works properly, and the data are in good agreement with the AP8 model. The observations of the MEPD on board the FY-4B satellite can provide important support for the safety of spacecraft and theoretical research related to space weather.

Details

Title
Medium-Energy Proton Detector Onboard the FY-4B Satellite
Author
Zhang, Huanxin 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Zhang, Shenyi 1 ; Shen, Guohong 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Zhang, Xin 1 ; Zong, Weiguo 2 ; Guo, Jianguang 2 ; Chen, Anqin 2 ; Zhang, Liguo 3 ; Zhang, Ruyi 3 

 National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Space Environment Exploration, Beijing 100190, China 
 Key Laboratory of Space Weather, National Satellite Meteorological Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081, China; Innovation Center for Fengyun Meteorological Satellite, Beijing 100081, China 
 Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering, Shanghai 201109, China 
First page
889
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
22264310
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2882250491
Copyright
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.