RadFET Dosimeters in the Belt: the Van Allen Probes on Day 365

• Published in: IEEE transactions on nuclear science Vol. 61; no. 2; pp. 948 - 954
• Main Authors: Holmes-Siedle, A. G., Goldsten, J. O., Maurer, R. H., Peplowski, P. N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01-04-2014; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Calibration; Detectors; Dielectric devices; dosimetry; Extraterrestrial measurements; Orbits; RadFET; radiation damage; Radiation effects; radiation environment; Radiation hardening; Space vehicles; spacecraft dielectric charging currents; Van Allen Probes
• ISSN: 0018-9499; 1558-1578
• DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2014.2307012

Van Allen Probes A and B, launched more than a year ago (in August 2012), carried 16 p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor Radiation-sensitive Field Effect Transistors (RadFET)s into an orbit designed by NASA to probe the heart of the trapped-radiation belts. Nearly 350 days of in situ measurements from the Engineering Radiation Monitor (ERM) (1) demonstrated strong variations of dose rates with time, (2) revealed a critical correlation between the ERM RadFET dosimeters and the ERM Faraday cup data on charged particles, and (3) permitted the mapping of the belts by measuring variation with orbit altitude. This paper provides an update on early results given in a NSREC2012 paper along with details and discussion of the RadFET dosimetry data analyzed .