The MONICA Experiment for Investigating the Ion Composition of Solar Cosmic Rays

Abstract

The MONICA satellite-based experiment is described. In this experiment, fluxes of cosmic-ray ions from H to Ni are investigated near the Earth in the energy range of 10–300 MeV/nucleon. The main scientific objectives of the MONICA experiment are to measure the ion and isotope compositions and the energy spectra of solar cosmic rays for individual solar events and to study the evolution of these characteristics over time. The MONICA experiment will help to investigate the ion and isotope composition of the anomalous component of cosmic rays, galactic cosmic rays, and nuclear fluxes in the Earth’s radiation belt. Observations of ion fluxes will be carried out using the MONICA high-aperture multilayer semiconductor spectrometer–telescope installed on board a spacecraft with a low-Earth circular polar orbit at a height of approximately 600 km. This orbit will make it possible to perform the method for measuring the charge of ions with energies above 10 MeV/nucleon, which is based on the use of the Earth’s magnetic field as a particle- charge separator. The geometric factor of the instrument is 100 cm² sr and the angular resolution is 1°.