(U) Compact Environment Anomaly Sensor (CEASE)

(The effects of any budget/program decisions made since the information was collected during 1997-98 are NOT reflected in the National Security Space Road Map (NSSRM).)

Overview: (U)
(U) The Compact Environmental Anomaly Sensor (CEASE), under development at Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/VSB), is a compact, low power, low data rate, radiation hard, autonomous on-board unit designed to monitor the space particle radiation environment near a spacecraft.

Description: (U)
(U) The Compact Environment Anomaly Sensor (CEASE) is a small, lightweight, inexpensive anomaly detector that could fly on all DoD satellites.  CEASE will detect surface charging, deep dielectric charging, and high-energy protons and cosmic rays, all of which can damage satellite on-board electronics, sensors, tracking devices, and surfaces.  CEASE is a health and status monitor; data will go directly to satellite operators, and also to the 55 Space Weather Squadron (SWXS) for anomaly assessments.  The CONOPS also calls for easy-to-understand read-outs and graphical displays the satellite operators can use to help them quickly determine if the space environment has caused an anomaly or if the operators should begin diagnostics to see if there are other causes.  Other potential benefits of CEASE are a reduction in man-hours needed for anomaly resolution, extension of operational satellite lifetimes, and feedback to satellite designers.  A similar instrument is the SOBEDS.  It will measure higher-energy particles and vector magnetic fields to extend the energy range measurements that CEASE will accomplish and it will provide data for radiation belt specification models.

(U) The instrument will also provide, if requested, detailed data on particle fluxes incident on the spacecraft over the 72 hours prior to the request. This feature will allow the spacecraft operator, once an anomaly has occurred, to have sufficient data to analyze and understand the cause of the anomaly. CEASE, self-contained and autonomous, can act as a housekeeping device on the spacecraft to give warning of, or identify the cause of, anomalies resulting from the natural environment. CEASE's output can be used to distinguish between natural effects and those caused by other (possibly hostile) actions. By on-board analysis of its measured space-environment data using decision making algorithms in its microprocessor, CEASE will provide alerts/warnings in terms of a series of ascending order flags, indicating the likelihood and severity of the forthcoming anomalies. 

(U) CEASE will first be launched in July 1998 as part of the Space Test Program's Tri-Service Experiments Mission 5 (TSX-5) satellite.  Arrangements are also being made, via the Space Test Program, for CEASE to fly on the Space Technology Research Vehicle- 1c/d (STRV-1c/d), scheduled for launch in FY99.  

User Impact: (U)
(U) CEASE will monitor energetic particles (electrons and protons) in the spacecraft environment that lead to surface charging, deep dielectric (bulk) charging, single event upsets (SEUs), and radiation dose effects.  CEASE data can be used:  (1) to provide warnings of hazardous conditions, possibly enabling the spacecraft controllers to take protective actions, (2) for anomaly resolution allowing spacecraft controllers and analysts to determine if anomalies were environmentally induced, (3) by the spacecraft on-board control system to autonomously detect hazardous conditions and implement protective measures, and (4) as inputs to space environmental specification and forecasting software tools (both operational and research grade) to provide more timely, continuous, and spatially variant environmental data.

Programmatics: (U)
(U) Concept/Technology.
	(U) IOC: 10/2004 (1QFY2005).

Related Initiatives: (U)
(U) Improved Space Env. Models, SOBEDS

Related Requirements: (U)
(U) None.

Related Categories: (U)
(U) Space-Based Sensors

Road Map Placements: (U)
(U) ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING, National Security Space Road Map.

Lead Office: (U)
(U) AFRL.

Date of Information: (U)
15 May 1998

(The effects of any budget/program decisions made since the information was collected during 1997-98 are NOT reflected in the National Security Space Road Map (NSSRM).)