Solar Energetic Particle Spectrometer (SEPS)

An outstanding problem of solar and heliospheric physics is the transport of solar energetic particles. The more energetic particles arriving early in the event can be used to probe the transport processes. The arrival direction distribution of these particles carries information about scattering during their propagation to Earth that can be used to test models of interplanetary transport. Also, of considerable importance to crewed space missions is the level of ionizing radiation in the interplanetary medium, and the dose that the crew experiences during an intense solar particle event, as well as the risk to space systems. A recent study concludes that 90% of the absorbed dose results from particles in the energy range 20-550 MeV. We will describe a new compact instrument concept, SEPS, that can cover the energy range from 50-600 MeV with a single compact detector. This energy range has been difficult to cover. There are only limited data, generally available only in broad energy bins, from a few past and present instruments outside Earth s magnetosphere. The SEPS concept can provide improved measurements for this energy range and its simple light-weight design could be easily accommodated on future missions.