Radiation Monitor RADMON aboard Aalto-1 CubeSat: First results

TL;DR

The paper presents initial results from RADMON, a compact radiation detector on Aalto-1 CubeSat, including particle intensity maps, response to magnetospheric changes, and comparison with other measurements, providing valuable data for space radiation studies.

Contribution

First analysis of RADMON data from Aalto-1, demonstrating its capability to measure energetic particles and its response to magnetospheric dynamics in a small satellite.

Findings

Electron and proton intensity maps over the mission period

Correlation of RADMON data with magnetospheric activity

Comparison with PROBA-V/EPT measurements

Abstract

The Radiation Monitor (RADMON) on-board Aalto-1 CubeSat is an energetic particle detector that fulfills the requirements of small size, low power consumption and low budget. Aalto-1 was launched on 23 June 2017 to a sun-synchronous polar orbit with 97.4{\deg} inclination and an average altitude of somewhat above 500 km. RADMON has been measuring integral particle intensities from October 2017 to May 2018 with electron energies starting at low-MeV and protons from 10 MeV upwards. In this paper, we present first electron and proton intensity maps obtained over the mission period. In addition, the response of RADMON measurements to magnetospheric dynamics are analyzed, and the electron observations are compared with corresponding measurements by the PROBA-V/EPT mission. Finally, the we describe the RADMON data set, which is made publicly available.