"Since the summer of 2000 we have successfully deployed a high resolution x-ray microcalorimeter spectrometer, based on the spaceflight XRS instrument, at the Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Over the last decade, this highly successful partnership has made fundamental measurements in laboratory astrophysics including the measurements of the absolute cross sections of all the Fe L shell transitions from Fe XVII to Fe XXIV, line ratios in Fe and Ni L shell transitions, measurements of Fe K shell emission over a wide range of electron energies, and direct measurements of charge exchange emission from highly ionized Fe, O, N, and most recently L shell S, using a variety of donor gases. This work has resulted in the publication of over 30 peer-reviewed articles with many more either submitted or in preparation. The newest addition to the facility, the ECS microcalorimeter spectrometer, developed under this program, has performed flawlessly as a facility-class instrument since 2007. We propose here to continue our highly successful partnership and deploy new technology to resolve lines in the important 1/4 keV band that encompasses the M-shell iron emission and the L shell emission, including charge exchange, of many of the lower-Z elements, such as Si, S, Mg, Ne, Ca, and Ar. We thus propose completing a new spectrometer that will bring substantially improved performance to the laboratory astrophysics program at EBIT and will enable fundamentally new measurements. Thus, in addition to maintaining the current spectrometers, which will begin this work, a significant component of this proposal is the completion of a new spectrometer leveraged off of the substantial progress in high-resolution x-ray detectors developed for the International X-ray Observatory mission. The spectrometer will be composed of a detector system with unparalleled spectral resolution: 2 eV resolution across the 0.05-10 keV band. This will allow

This proposal aims to measure the parallax of pulsar B1055-52. PSR B1055-52 is particularly important for studying neutron star properties. Bright at radio and gamma-rays, the pulsar is also well detected at near-infrared, optical, UV and X-ray frequencies. In X-rays, we even can see the surface's thermal emission and can investigate the non-uniformity of the temperature distribution over rotation phase. Since PSR B1055-52 is a rare interpulse pulsar, there is an exceptionally good constraint on the angle between the magnetic dipole and rotation axes, allowing to resolve many model degeneracies. The wealth of observational data enable a very detailed investigation of this pulsar and neutron stars in general. However, these investigations cannot be completed without one essential parameter - the distance. Currently, the possible distance range obtained from the dispersion measure has a span of almost a factor 10 if different Galactic electron density models are considered. At the same time, there are several indicators that PSR B1055-52 is close enough to obtain a parallax-based distance with high accuracy.

The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope was launched in June 2008 to explore high-energy phenomena in the Universe. This GI program is targeted specifically at Fermi observations of high-energy solar phenomena, primarily solar flares. We provide quicklook products, data archives, and analysis software covering the solar X-ray and gamma-ray observations of both the Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and Large Area Telescope (LAT), with the objective of facilitating and encouraging the broad use of Fermi data by the international solar physics community.

Fermi is a powerful space observatory that will open a wide window on the universe. Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of light, and the gamma-ray sky is spectacularly different from the one we perceive with our own eyes. With a huge leap in all key capabilities, Fermi data will enable scientists to answer persistent questions across a broad range of topics, including supermassive black-hole systems, pulsars, the origin of cosmic rays, and searches for signals of new physics.

Fermi is a powerful space observatory that will open a wide window on the universe. Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of light, and the gamma-ray sky is spectacularly different from the one we perceive with our own eyes. With a huge leap in all key capabilities, Fermi data will enable scientists to answer persistent questions across a broad range of topics, including supermassive black-hole systems, pulsars, the origin of cosmic rays, and searches for signals of new physics.

Fermi is a powerful space observatory that will open a wide window on the universe. Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of light, and the gamma-ray sky is spectacularly different from the one we perceive with our own eyes. With a huge leap in all key capabilities, Fermi data will enable scientists to answer persistent questions across a broad range of topics, including supermassive black-hole systems, pulsars, the origin of cosmic rays, and searches for signals of new physics.

The objective of the proposed research is to develop and test a prototype of an innovative and simple detector technique to identify moderate energy (a few MeV) positrons in space. Positron measurements at such energies have never been made in space. Measurement of the Galactic cosmic ray (GCR) positron fraction at low energies will provide new information about the transport and modulation of particles in the Local Interstellar Medium (LISM) and the Heliosphere. Also, positrons are unique among observable stable high energy particles since they are formed only as secondaries from high energy charged particle interactions in the Solar atmosphere during Solar particle events (SPEs). Positron measurements of this type will open a new channel for the study of Solar particle events which could address issues such as the determination of plasma and magnetic field parameters during high energy particle acceleration at the Sun, time evolution of Solar flare processes, and magnetic connectivity between acceleration sites and the interplanetary medium.

Our detector scheme, the Positron Identification by Coincident Annihilation Photons (PICAP) technique, is based upon simple, reliable, well-proven and robust detectors. PICAP was inspired by the participation of the P.I. in a measurement of the β+ half-life of 54Mn (for cosmic-ray chronometry) at Argonne National Laboratory using a similar technique [Wuosmaa et al. 1998]. The proposed project will develop and build a prototype PICAP instrument and expose it to negatrons and positrons at Jefferson Laboratory to demonstrate detection efficiencies and—equally important—PICAP's efficiency in discriminating against negatrons as false positrons. The prototype will also be exposed to protons at Indiana University Cyclotron Facility to demonstrate PICAP's efficiency in rejecting protons as false electrons. The goal is a proven detector system that, in a stand-alone instrument or, more likely, as part of a charged particle instrument/suite, can measure the energetic particle population at moderate energies (1-100's of MeV/nucleon), and can simultaneously measure the electron flux and positron fraction at previously unexplored energies. An instrument incorporating PICAP would be particularly attractive as to cost, mass, power and telemetry requirements, making it well suited to a variety of space missions in contrast to more complex and massive magnetic spectrometer techniques.

The new addition to previous charged particle instrument designs is the additional capability to precisely measure the positron fraction. We propose to build a PICAP prototype, proving the positron detection capability, and optimized for the identification of 5-10 MeV positrons. A PICAP instrument may easily be tailored to measure other energies, depending upon specific science goals. A PICAP capability could be easily incorporated into a standard charged particle instrument designed to measure all moderate energy charged particles in space.  

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 The FWMI prototype development is underway at USU/SDL. To develop the FWMI, USU/SDL is leveraging the successful implementation of a rocket-borne Michelson interferometer/spectrometer system that was designed by USU/SDL in the early 1980s and flown multiple times on sounding rockets. This sensor was designated the Rocket-Borne Field-Widened Interferometer-II (RBFWI-2). Utilizing modern designs, technologies, and components, the new prototype FWMI will significantly enhance the original RBFWI-2 to meet three technical goals: (1) extended spectral coverage, (2) higher spectral resolution, and (3) extended dynamical range. USU/SDL also intends to achieve large reductions in mass, volume, and power. The resultant prototype FWMI will then be a pathfinder for future missions that focus on addressing key scientific objectives and critical supporting science questions in auroral ionosphere-thermosphere energetics.

The successful flight of RBFWI-2 established a solid foundation for the development of the prototype FWMI. Based on that heritage, the current effort focuses on the development of a new optical detector system, a new sensor signal-conditioning system based on modern electronics, as well as extending the displacement of the optics to increase spectral resolution. These new techniques and other modern technologies will be added to the proven RBFWI-2 legacy design to allow the prototype FWMI to serve as the foundation for a flight FWMI version capable of meeting the targeted instrument specifications that are summarized below:

1. Spectral bandpass of 1300-8100 cm-1

2. Spectral resolution of ≤ 1.0 cm-1

3. Dynamic range characterized by a 10-13 W cm-2 sr-1(cm-1)-1 NER.

Starting from August 6th in 2019, Sentinel-5P TROPOMI along-track high spatial resolution (~5.5km at nadir) has been implemented. For data before August 6th of 2019, please check S5P_L1B_RA_BD5_1 data collection. The Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor (Sentinel-5P or S5P) satellite mission is one of the European Space Agency's (ESA) new mission family - Sentinels, and it is a joint initiative between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the ESA. The sole payload on Sentinel-5P is the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), which is a nadir-viewing 108 degree Field-of-View push-broom grating hyperspectral spectrometer, covering the wavelength of ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS, 270nm to 495nm), near infrared (NIR, 675nm to 775nm), and shortwave infrared (SWIR, 2305nm-2385nm). TROPOMI Level-1B (L1B) product is generated by the Koninklijk Nederlands Meteoroligisch Instituut (KNMI) TROPOMI L01B processor from Level-0 input data and auxiliary data products with the netCDF-4 enhanced model. It provides users with radiance, irradiance, calibration and engineering products.

SCRN5L1RAD is the Nimbus-5 Selective Chopper Radiometer (SCR) Level 1 Calibrated Radiances data product. The calibrated radiances are measured at 16 channels from 2.3 to 133 micrometers with a ground resolution of 25 km, and are "declouded" (interpolated and smoothed across regions of cloud). The radiances were used to obtain the global temperature structure of the atmosphere up to 50 km altitude, the distribution of water vapor, and the density of ice particles in cirrus clouds. The data were recovered from the original 9-track tapes, and are now stored online as daily files in their original proprietary binary format with about 14 orbits per day.Spatial coverage is near global from latitude -80 to +80 degrees. The data are available from 13 December 1972 (day of year 347) to 26 December 1974 (day of year 360). The principal investigator for the SCR experiment was Dr. John T. Houghton from Oxford University.This product was previously available from the NSSDC with the identifier ESAD-00250 (old ID 72-097A-02A).