SH036-0009
The Energetic-Particle-Detector (EPD) SupraThermal Electron Proton (STEP) instrument on Solar Orbiter: First Data and Background Corrections
Monday, 14 December 2020
Poster
Sandra Eldrum1, Lars Berger1, Stephan I Boettcher1, Sebastian Boden1, Christian Drews1, Robert Elftmann1, Johan Lauritz Freiherr von Forstner1, Violetta Knierim1, Alexander Kollhoff1, Cesar Martin-Garcia2, Daniel Pacheco1, Lauri Panitzsch3, Ali Ravanbakhsh1, Lars Seimetz1, Jan Tammen1, Christoph Terasa1, Zigong Xu1, Mahesh Yedla1, George C Ho4, Javier Rodriguez-Pacheco5, Robert F Wimmer-Schweingruber1 and and the Solar Orbiter Team, (1)University of Kiel, Institute for Experimental and Applied Physics, Kiel, Germany, (2)now at Institute of Planetary Research, DLR, Berlin, Germany, (3)now at OHB Systems, Bremen, Germany, (4)Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, United States, (5)Universidad de Alcalá, Space Research Group, Alcalá de Henares, Spain
Abstract:
Solar Orbiter was launched in February 2020 and carries with it a comprehensive set of in-situ and remote-sensing instruments for the study of the Sun and heliosphere. The Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) on Solar Orbiter was switched on on February 28, 2020 and is providing us with measurements of the particle environment in the inner heliosphere. The EPD suite is composed of a set of different sensors measuring electrons, protons and ions in a wide range of energies.
EPD‘s SupraThermal Electron and Proton (STEP) sensor measures electrons and ions (predominantly protons) with energies between a few keV and ~80 keV. It has two sensors heads, one measures ions only by sweeping away electrons with a strong permanent-magnet system, the other measures ions and electrons. Each of the two sensor heads has a 15-pixel solid-state detector inbehind a small pin hole and can so measure detailed pitch-angle distributions.
We will provide a detailed description of the STEP sensor, including its pixel detector, energy resolution, calibration and commissioning activities as well as its data from the commissioning and current cruise phase. We will discuss some early measurement results and expectations for future measurements.
