The European Space Agency (ESA) intends to establish a distributed detector network for monitoring space weather (Distributed Space weather Sensor System, D3S). The D3S-RadMag instrument, under development at MTA EK, might be a key instrument to D3S in the future.
The aim of the D3S-RadMag project is to develop a combined instrument for measuring space radiation and magnetic field properties for performing measurements in ESA’s small satellite constellation missions in the near future. Phase A/B of the development is funded in the frame of the ESA Hungarian Incentive Scheme.
The Instrument Requirement Review (IRR) of the D3S-RadMag project took place on the 25th of October 2018 at the European Space Operation Centre (ESOC) of ESA, in Darmstadt, Germany. During the review we had to respond to comments and questions from six key ESA experts. There were also further discussions on the continuation of the project. Among the experts were Juha-Pekka Luntama, head of the Space Weather Segment of ESA’s Space Situational Awareness programme, and Stefan Kraft, L1/L5 Mission Study Manager, who emphasized that if Hungary subscribes to the SSA optional program, D3S-RadMag might be a candidate to be added to the instrument set on the D3S constellation.
The review was successful, the experts had no comments requiring the suspension of the project.
Attila Hirn
D3S-RadMag deputy project manager
Phase A/B of the development of the D3S-RadMag space radiation and magnetic field measuring instrument is realized in the frame of the ESA contract No. 4000124572/18/NL/CBi.