Amptek, Inc. announced today that its space radiation sensor CEASE is in excellent health on board the U.S. Air Force TSX-5 spacecraft. The Tri-Service Experiment 5 spacecraft was launched on June 7, 2000, on a Pegasus rocket. The CEASE experiment was turned on the next day and immediately began measurements of the space radiation environment. Based on the initial data received, CEASE is performing as expected.
CEASE is a small, low power instrument that provides operators with fully processed, real time, in situ measurements and autonomously generated warnings of the space radiation environment threats.
Initial flight data clearly showed the expected signature of the radiation belts. Fortuitously, CEASE was turned on during a strong geomagnetic storm (category G3). The effects of this storm can be seen in CEASE’s measurements.