SEP protons in GEO measured with the ESA MultiFunctional spectrometer

The MFS (Multi-Functional Spectrometer) is a radiation monitor that together with CTTB (Component Technology Test Bed) make the AEEF-TDP8 (ESA Alphasat Environment and Effects Facility — Technology Demonstration Payload 8). The two units are hosted in the X panel of the Alphasat satellite in orbit since July 2013. MFS is an instrument specifically designed to characterise the Space Radiation environment while CTTB was built to monitor the effect of radiation on electrical components (GaN transistors, Memories and Optical Transceivers) in geostationary orbit. The mission lifetime of AEEF/TDP8 will be at least of three years and TDP8 is expected to be acquiring scientific data during the whole period. On ground, correlation between radiation environment and radiation effects can be established. Before launch, MFS was submitted to proton and electron beam tests at Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland in 2010. The main purpose was the validation and calibration of the MFS proto-flight model together with the estimation of particle energy resolution and identification capability. A full Geant4 simulation with CAD (Computer-aided design) geometry exported to GDML (Geometry Description Markup Language) description the MFS in-flight configuration was built. Ground tests results were validated with Geant4 simulation. The measurements of MFS proton channels and MFS proton response functions are evaluated using comparisons with INTEGRAL/IREM data during the Solar Proton Event (SPE) of January 2014. In addition, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) unfolding method was developed in order to unfold MFS data. Comparisons show that the derived ANN Alphasat/MFS fluxes are in remarkable agreement with INTEGRAL/IREM proton fluxes.