Collaborative Research: Causes and Consequences of Relativistic Electron Precipitation as Revealed by the CubeSat Mission ELFIN’s Pitch-Angle Resolved Loss Cone Measurements

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

The jointly funded NSF/NASA ELFIN mission consists of two identical CubeSats on a polar (~ 93 degree inclination), nearly circular, low-Earth orbit. ELFIN was launched on September 15, 2018 and is currently operating within the geospace environment. This funding will address the prime mission objective of analyzing the data currently being collected by ELFIN to advance understanding of wave-particle interactions and their effect on relativistic electrons in the outer radiation belt. Two undergraduate students, a graduate student, and three early career scientists will be supported. ELFIN data products are integrated into courses at UCLA and in public outreach events in the Los Angeles area. The project will utilize ELFIN, together with its conjunctions with other, equatorial Heliophysics missions to address the efficacy of EMIC wave precipitation, and the relative contribution of EMIC, whistlers and kinetic Alfvén waves in the observed relativistic electron scattering (100s of keV to a few MeV energy). The specific science objectives are: (1) Are EMIC waves responsible for 0.5-2MeV electron precipitation? (2) Are waves other than EMIC waves (principally chorus waves and kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs)), also responsible for significant relativistic electron scattering? (3) What are the typical precipitation rates associated with various wave types as function of geomagnetic conditions? This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.