LIMADOU: time to fly!

The “High Energy Particle Detector” (HEPD) was calibrated at the Beam Test Facility (BTF), at the National Laboratory of Frascati. HEPD is part of a number of innovative detectors that will be installed on the Chinese satellite CSES (China Seismo Electromagnetic Satellite), for the Italian-Chinese project CSES-LIMADOU.

HEPD, tested thanks to the BTF beam, is able to study electrons (3-100 MeV), protons (30-200 MeV) and light nuclei: it will contribute to the measurement of the short-length variation of these particles’ flux near Earth, caused by solar, terrestrial and anthropic phenomena. The goal of this mission is to board on the satellite tools able to investigate, from space, a number of electromagnetic, ionospheric and magnetospheric phenomena, as possible forerunners of seismic activity, and their generation mechanism and various geophysic activities.

In order to calibrate the apparatus, a team of researchers from the CSES-LIMADOU Collaboration, thanks to the support and assistance from the BTF Staff, was able to map a complete characterization of the detector’s performances and features, running a number of tests featuring 30 – 120 MeV electron beams. The detector was managed thanks to the Electrical Ground Support Equipment (EGSE), an emulator of the satellite devoted to control, diagnostics and data collection.

Best wishes to the LIMADOU Collaboration, we will be looking at the sky, trying to spot HEPD!

Learn more: http://www.asi.it/it/news/al-via-i-test-per-limadou