Orbiting photon-counting observatory for the Earth night-sky background: AURORA on MEGSAT-1

Alessandro Monfardini; Paolo Trampus; Roberto Stalio; Marzio Vidali; Nicola Mahne; Roberto Battiston; Mauro Menichelli; Piero Mazzinghi

doi:10.1117/12.450061

10 December 2001 Orbiting photon-counting observatory for the Earth night-sky background: AURORA on MEGSAT-1

Alessandro Monfardini, Paolo Trampus, Roberto Stalio, Marzio Vidali, Nicola Mahne, Roberto Battiston, Mauro Menichelli, Piero Mazzinghi

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 4498, UV/EUV and Visible Space Instrumentation for Astronomy and Solar Physics; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.450061
Event: International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, 2001, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

A light photon-counting scientific payload, named AURORA, has been developed and launched on a commercial microsatellite in order to study the near-UV night-sky background emission (channel Notte) and the Aurora (Alba). AURORA is mapping, with the Notte channel, the night-side photon background in the 300-400 nm spectral range, together with a particular 2⁺ nitrogen line ((lambda) = 337nm). These measurements are required in the framework of the Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO) experiment, approved by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the phase A and to be flown on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2009. The Alba channel studies the Aurora emissions in four different spectral bands centered on: 367nm, 391nm, 535nm, 560nm (OI). The instrument has been integrated on the MEGSAT-1 satellite and launched, on the September, 26th 2000, from the Baikonur cosmodrome. The nearly circular Low Earth Orbit (LEO), with inclination of 64.56 degrees, fully includes the ISS ground track envelope. The satellite overall mass is about 60 kg. An overview of the techniques adopted, including detectors, front-end electronics, Central Processor Unit (CPU), is given in this paper, together with a brief report on the mission status and plans.

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Alessandro Monfardini, Paolo Trampus, Roberto Stalio, Marzio Vidali, Nicola Mahne, Roberto Battiston, Mauro Menichelli, and Piero Mazzinghi "Orbiting photon-counting observatory for the Earth night-sky background: AURORA on MEGSAT-1", Proc. SPIE 4498, UV/EUV and Visible Space Instrumentation for Astronomy and Solar Physics, (10 December 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.450061

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