CERN Accelerating science

Article
Report number	arXiv:2006.07747
Title	The ELFIN Mission
Author(s)	Angelopoulos, V. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Tsai, E. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Bingley, L. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Shaffer, C. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Tektronix, Irvine) ; Turner, D.L. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Johns Hopkins U.) ; Runov, A. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Li, W. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Boston U.) ; Liu, J. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Artemyev, A.V. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Zhang, X.-J. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Strangeway, R.J. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Wirz, R.E. (UCLA) ; Shprits, Y.Y. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Potsdam, GFZ) ; Sergeev, V.A. (St. Petersburg State U.) ; Caron, R.P. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Chung, M. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Johns Hopkins U.) ; Cruce, P. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; TRW Systems, Redondo Beach) ; Greer, W. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Grimes, E. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Hector, K. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Aerospace Corp.) ; Lawson, M.J. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Leneman, D. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Masongsong, E.V. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Russell, C.L. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Wilkins, C. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Hinkley, D. (AK Aerospace Tech. Corp.) ; Blake, J.B. (AK Aerospace Tech. Corp.) ; Adair, N. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Aerospace Corp.) ; Allen, M. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; TRW Systems, Redondo Beach) ; Anderson, M. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; CERN) ; Arreola-Zamora, M. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Artinger, J. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Asher, J. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Johns Hopkins U.) ; Branchevsky, D. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; AK Aerospace Tech. Corp.) ; Capitelli, M.R. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Aerospace Corp.) ; Castro, R. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Aerospace Corp.) ; Chao, G. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Boeing, Huntington Beach) ; Chung, N. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Intel, Santa Clara) ; Cliffe, M. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Unlisted) ; Colton, K. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Unlisted, US, CA) ; Costello, C. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Depe, D. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Domae, B.W. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Eldin, S. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Fitzgibbon, L. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Tektronix, Irvine) ; Flemming, A. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; TRW Systems, Redondo Beach) ; Fox, I. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Frederick, D.M. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Aerospace Corp.) ; Gilbert, A. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Gildemeister, A. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; TRW Systems, Redondo Beach) ; Gonzalez, A. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Unlisted) ; Hesford, B. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Caltech, JPL) ; Jha, S. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Kang, N. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Aerospace Corp.) ; King, J. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Krieger, R. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Unlisted) ; Lian, K. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; TRW Systems, Redondo Beach) ; Mao, J. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; CERN) ; McKinney, E. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Cal. Poly., Pomona) ; Miller, J.P. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Norris, A. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main)) ; Nuesca, M. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Palla, A. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Park, E.S.Y. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Pedersen, C.E. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Qu, Z. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Rozario, R. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Unlisted) ; Rye, E. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Seaton, R. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Subramanian, A. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; TRW Systems, Redondo Beach) ; Sundin, S.R. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Tektronix, Irvine) ; Tan, A. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; CERN) ; Turner, W. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Villegas, A.J. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Wasden, M. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Wing, G. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Wong, C. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Xie, E. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Yamamoto, S. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA) ; Yap, R. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; UCLA, Math. Dept.) ; Zarifian, A. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Caltech, JPL) ; Zhang, G.Y. (UCLA, Los Angeles (main) ; Qualcomm, US)
Publication	2020-07-30
Imprint	2020-06-13
Number of pages	51
Note	Submitted to Space Science Reviews April 2020. 51 pages, 7 tables, 21 figures
In:	Space Sci. Rev. 216, 5 (2020) pp.103
DOI	10.1007/s11214-020-00721-7 10.1007/s11214-020-00721-7 (publication)
Subject category	physics.plasm-ph ; Other Fields of Physics ; physics.ins-det ; Detectors and Experimental Techniques ; physics.geo-ph ; Other Fields of Physics ; physics.space-ph ; Other Fields of Physics
Abstract	The Electron Loss and Fields Investigation with a Spatio-Temporal Ambiguity-Resolving option (ELFIN-STAR, or simply: ELFIN) mission comprises two identical 3-Unit (3U) CubeSats on a polar ( 93deg inclination), nearly circular, low-Earth ( 450 km altitude) orbit. Launched on September 15, 2018, ELFIN is expected to have a >2.5 year lifetime. Its primary science objective is to resolve the mechanism of storm-time relativistic electron precipitation, for which electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves are a prime candidate. From its ionospheric vantage point, ELFIN uses its unique pitch-angle-resolving capability to determine whether measured relativistic electron pitch-angle and energy spectra within the loss cone bear the characteristic signatures of scattering by EMIC waves or whether such scattering may be due to other processes. Pairing identical ELFIN satellites with slowly-variable along-track separation allows disambiguation of spatial and temporal evolution of the precipitation over minutes-to-tens-of-minutes timescales, faster than the orbit period of a single low-altitude satellite ( 90min). Each satellite carries an energetic particle detector for electrons (EPDE) that measures 50keV to 5MeV electrons with deltaE/E<40% and a fluxgate magnetometer (FGM) on a  72cm boom that measures magnetic field waves (e.g., EMIC waves) in the range from DC to 5Hz Nyquist (nominally) with <0.3nT/sqrt(Hz) noise at 1Hz. The spinning satellites (T_spin 3s) are equipped with magnetorquers that permit spin-up/down and reorientation maneuvers. The spin axis is placed normal to the orbit plane, allowing full pitch-angle resolution twice per spin. An energetic particle detector for ions (EPDI) measures 250keV-5MeV ions, addressing secondary science. Funded initially by CalSpace and the University Nanosat Program, ELFIN was selected for flight with joint support from NSF and NASA between 2014 and 2018.
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