Science Applications of the REACH Observing System

Abstract:

The Responsive Environmental Assessment Commercial Hosted (REACH) is a constellation of payloads integrated onto 32 Iridium-Next space vehicles, with the goal of providing a global, low-latency monitor of space weather hazards such as total dose, internal charging, and single event effects. REACH consists of 64 individual dosimeters of six types, allowing many sensors to be combined into global, high temporal resolution measurements of particle populations ranging from ~100 keV to ~2.5 MeV electrons, and ~1 MeV to ~50 MeV protons, covering many aspects of the space environment which lead to spacecraft hazards. However, REACH measurements can also be used to study aspects of heliophysics from geomagnetic cutoff modeling, to electron microbursts, to providing an unprecedented temporal coverage of global radiation belt dynamics. We will provide an overview of the sensor system and preliminary examples of select science investigations that REACH data can contribute to answering. REACH data is available from February 2017 through December 2019 upon request from the U.S. Space Force, Space and Missile Systems Center, El Segundo, CA.