CSES Mission
CSES (China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite)[1] is a Chinese-Italian space mission dedicated to monitoring electromagnetic field and waves, plasma and particle perturbations of the atmosphere, ionosphere and magnetosphere induced by natural sources and anthropocentric emitters with the aim to study their correlations with the occurrence of seismic events.
CSES mission will investigate the structure and the dynamic of the topside ionosphere, the coupling mechanisms with the lower and higher plasma layers and the temporal variations of the geomagnetic field, in quiet and disturbed conditions. Data collected by the mission will also allow studying solar-terrestrial interactions and phenomena of solar physics, namely Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), solar flares and cosmic ray solar modulation. They will contribute to provide an observational sharing service for international cooperation and the scientific community.
The project is the result of the studies of a collaboration between Chinese researchers of China Earthquake Administration (CEA) led by Professor Xuhui Shen and Italian reaserchers of Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) led by Professor Roberto Battiston.
Institutions Involved
The Chinese institutes involved in the project are the China China National Space Administration (CNSA), the China Earthquake Administration (CEA), the Lanzhou Institute of Physics (LIP), the Space Star Techonology Co., the DFH Satellite Co., the National Space Science Center (NSSC) and the Centre for Space Science and Applied Research-Chinese Academy of Science (CSSAR-CAS).
Italy participates to the CSES satellite mission with the LIMADOU project - funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and INFN - through a collaboration that includes the INFN Divisions of Bologna, Naples, Perugia, Roma Tor Vergata, the INFN Center TIFPA of Trento, the INFN National Laboratories of Frascati, the Universities of Bologna, Trento, Roma Tor Vergata, Uninettuno and the Institutes INAF-IAPS (Italian National Institute of Astrophysics and Planetology) and INGV (Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology).
The Italian contribution consists of an innovative instrument, LIMADOU-HEPD, for measuring energetic particles that precipitate from the Van Allen belts as a result of electromagnetic interference.
The Satellite
The CSES satellite, 3-axis attitude stabilized, is based on the Chinese CAST2000 platform and has a mass of about 730 kg and a power consumption with a peak of about 900 W. Scientific data will be transmitted in X-band at 120 Mbps. It will be placed at a 98° Sun-synchronous circular orbit at an altitude about 500 km.
The onboard payloads consist of two High-Energy Particle Detectors (LIMADOU-HEPD, HEPP) to measure the particle flux and energy spectrum, a Search-Coil Magnetometer (SCM) and a High Precision Magnetometer (HPM) to measure the components and the total intensity of the magnetic field, respectively, an Electric Field Detector (EFD) to measure the electric field, a Plasma analyzer and a Langmuir probe to measure the disturbance of plasma in ionosphere, a GNSS Occultation Receiver and a Tri-Band Beacon to measure the density of electrons.
There are two different orbital working zones: the payload operating zone, a latitude range between -65° and +65°, where the instruments will collect data, and the platform adjustment zone, at higher latitudes, where all detectors will be be switch off, and the activities for satellite attitude and orbit control will be perform.
Each instrument will collect data in two operating modes: ‘‘burst mode’’, activated when the satellite passes over the whole China territory and the regions with the strongest seismic activities in the world, and ‘‘survey mode” for other areas of the Earth.
The launch of CSES is scheduled for February 2nd, 2018, at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert (Inner Mongolia). Expected lifetime is 5 years.