Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2018. ; Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. ; Includes bibliographical references (pages 129-140). ; Harsh radiation in the form of ionized, highly energetic particles is part of the space environment and can affect the operation, performance, and lifetime of spacecraft and their instruments. Jupiter has the largest and strongest magnetosphere of all of the planets in the solar system and it is dominated by high-energy electrons. Measuring and characterizing megaelectron volt (MeV) particles is fundamental for understanding the energetic processes powering the magnetosphere, interactions of the particles with surfaces of the Jovian satellites, and the effects of these particles on spacecraft near or in Jovian orbit. Electrons in Jupiter's magnetosphere can interact with spacecraft and lead to component failures, degradation of sensors and solar panels, and physical damage to materials. Dedicated instruments to monitor the radiation environment are not always included on spacecraft due to resource constraints. Measurements of the high-energy (>1 MeV) electron environment at Jupiter are currently spatially and temporally limited, predominantly coming from the Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) on the Galileo spacecraft. In this thesis, we develop ways to use existing hardware on spacecraft to measure the energetic particle environment. Solid-state detectors are commonly used as scientific imagers on spacecraft. In addition to being sensitive to incoming photons, semiconductor devices also are affected by incoming charged particles collected during integration and detector readout. These radiation hits from the space environment are typically considered "noise" at the detector. We develop a technique to extract quantitative high-energy electron environment information (energy and flux) from science imager radiation "noise". We use data from the Galileo spacecraft Solid-State Imaging (SSI) instrument, which is a ...
Characterizing high-energy electrons in space using science imagers
01.01.2018
1084472110
Hochschulschrift
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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