Calibration of RADMON Radiation Monitor Onboard Aalto-1 CubeSat

TL;DR

This paper details the calibration process and response characterization of the RADMON radiation monitor on the Aalto-1 CubeSat, including ground and in-flight calibration, simulations, and response analysis for particles.

Contribution

It presents the first comprehensive calibration and response analysis of RADMON radiation monitor on a CubeSat, including in-flight calibration and simulation-based characterization.

Findings

Energy calibration margin of about 5% achieved

Full response characterization to protons and electrons provided

Proton contamination of electron channels quantified and discussed

Abstract

RADMON is a small radiation monitor designed and assembled by students of the University of Turku and the University of Helsinki. It is flown on-board Aalto-1, a 3-unit CubeSat in low Earth orbit at about 500 km altitude. The detector unit of the instrument consists of two detectors, a Si solid-state detector and a CsI(Tl) scintillator, and utilizes the \textDelta{E}-E technique to determine the total energy and species of each particle hitting the detector. We present the results of the on-ground and in-flight calibration campaigns of the instrument, as well as the characterization of its response through extensive simulations within the Geant4 framework. The overall energy calibration margin achieved is about 5\%. The full instrument response to protons and electrons is presented and the issue of proton contamination of the electron channels is quantified and discussed.