Close-up Imaging Simulation of Low-Altitude ENA Emission by a Sun-Synchronous Satellite

Abstract

A two-dimensional ENA coded modulation imager is simulated on a sun-synchronous satellite to achieve high spatio-temporal resolution ENA imaging measurements. The present simulation results show that: (1) Sun-synchronous satellites can approach ENA emission sources from inside and outside the inner radiation belt.  The time resolution of ENA image reduce to 5 s, which enable us to observe the evolution process of energetic ion events; (2) The propagation distance of energetic particles can be determined using the time difference of the ENA energy spectrum response of various energy channels to identify the energetic particle trigger source of the substorm ; (3) The ENA imager will react to medium and small-magnitude substorm signals because of the proximity of the ENA emission source, which will aid in sampling constant collection and statistical analysis of massive data under numerous geomagnetic actions and provide crucial data support for space weather predictions.