A Scientific and Educational Space Experiment on the SiriusSat-1,2 Satellites

• Published in: Moscow University physics bulletin 2020-12, Vol.75 (6), p.665-675
• Main Authors: Bogomolov, V. V., Bogomolov, A. V., Dement’ev, Yu. N., Eremeev, V. E., Zharkih, R. N., Iuydin, A. F., Maksimov, I. A., Osedlo, V. I., Prokhorov, M. I., Svertilov, S. I.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astronauts; Charged particles; Cubesat; Education; Electron density; Gamma rays; Geomagnetism; Mathematical and Computational Physics; Nuclear physics; Particle physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Radiation belts; Russian spacecraft; Satellites; Scintillation counters; Spacecraft; Theoretical
• ISSN: 0027-1349; 1934-8460
• DOI: 10.3103/S0027134920060077

The results of a scientific and educational experiment on the SiriusSat-1 and SiriusSat-2 spacecraft carried out in Russia in the format Cubesat 1U+ are presented. The launch of two Sirius Sat-1,2 spacecraft was carried out on August 15, 2018 by astronauts from the ISS. The payload of the SiriusSat satellites is a detector based on several optically connected scintillators; it registers charged particles and -quanta in the energy release range of 0.3–3 MeV. The measurement mode provides both second-by-second monitoring and a detailed mode fixing the energy of each particle or quantum, as well as the corresponding time instant with a microsecond accuracy. Each satellite transmits kB of scientific data daily, which are available on the space weather server of the Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Moscow State University. During the flight, the variations in the precipitating and quasi-trapped electron fluxes of the outer Earth radiation belt and at the border of the South Atlantic Anomaly, and the dynamics of the particle fluxes and gamma rays depending on geomagnetic conditions have been studied. Additional possibilities are provided by the analysis of the passage of the areas of captured or precipitating particles by two closely flying satellites.