CSES (China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite),CSES Limadou web site https://www.cseslimadou.it or Zhangheng, is a Chinese–Italian space mission dedicated to monitoring

electromagnetic In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interacti ...

field and waves, plasma parameters and particle fluxes induced by natural sources and artificial emitters in the near-

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

contributes to one of the

magnetometer A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, ...

Overview

The mission aims to study the existence of possible (temporal and spatial) correlations between the observation of iono-magnetospheric perturbations as well as precipitation of particles from the inner

Van Allen belts The Van Allen radiation belt is a zone of energy, energetic charged particles, most of which originate from the solar wind, that are captured by and held around a planet by that planet's magnetosphere. Earth has two such belts, and sometimes ot ...

and the occurrence of seismic events. However, a careful analysis is needed in order to distinguish measurements possibly associated to earthquakes from the large background generated in the geomagnetic cavity by the solar activity and the tropospheric electromagnetic emissions. CSES mission will investigate the structure and the dynamics of the topside

ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays ...

, the coupling mechanisms between

upper atmosphere Upper atmosphere is a collective term that refers to various layers of the atmosphere of the Earth above the troposphere and corresponding regions of the atmospheres of other planets, and includes: * The mesosphere, which on Earth lies between th ...

, ionosphere and

magnetosphere In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. It is created by a celestial body with an active interior Dynamo ...

and the temporal variations of the geomagnetic field, in quiet and disturbed conditions. Data collected by the mission will also allow to studying solar-terrestrial interactions and phenomena of

solar physics Solar physics is the branch of astrophysics that specializes in the study of the Sun. It intersects with many disciplines of pure physics and astrophysics. Because the Sun is uniquely situated for close-range observing (other stars cannot be re ...

, namely

Coronal Mass Ejections A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a significant ejection of plasma mass from the Sun's corona into the heliosphere. CMEs are often associated with solar flares and other forms of solar activity, but a broadly accepted theoretical understanding ...

(CMEs),

solar flare A solar flare is a relatively intense, localized emission of electromagnetic radiation in the Sun's atmosphere. Flares occur in active regions and are often, but not always, accompanied by coronal mass ejections, solar particle events, and ot ...

s and

cosmic ray Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the ...

solar modulation. The mission will contribute to develop an observational sharing service for the international cooperation and the scientific community. The mission is part of a collaboration program between the

China National Space Administration The China National Space Administration (CNSA) is a government agency of the People's Republic of China headquartered in Haidian District, Haidian, Beijing, responsible for civil space administration and international space cooperation. These ...

(CNSA) and the

Italian Space Agency The Italian Space Agency (; ASI) is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy. The agency cooperates with numerous national and international entities who are active in aerospac ...

(ASI). It is the result of joint studies between Chinese researchers of

China Earthquake Administration The China Earthquake Administration (CEA; ) is a public institution managed by the State Council at the deputy ministerial level in charge of national earthquake disaster reduction work. It is currently managed by the Ministry of Emergency Managem ...

(CEA), led by Professor Xuhui Shen, and Italian researchers of National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) and other Institutes and Universities, led by Professor Roberto Battiston.

Institutions

The Chinese institutes involved in the project are the

(CNSA), the

(CEA), the Lanzhou Institute of Physics (LIP), the Institute of Crustal Dynamics (ICD-CEA), the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), the National Space Science Center (NSSC), the Centre for Space Science and Applied Research-Chinese Academy of Science (CSSAR-CAS), the Space Star Technology Co. and the DFH Satellite Co.DFH Satellite Co., Ltd. (DFHSat) http://www.cast.cn/Item/list.asp?id=1814 Italy participates to the CSES mission with the Limadou project, led by Prof. Piergiorgio Picozza (Principal Investigator), funded by the

(ASI) and the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN). The Limadou Collaboration includes the INFN Divisions of Bologna, Naples, Perugia, Roma Tor Vergata, the INFN Center TIFPA of Trento, the INFN National Laboratories of Frascati, the Universities of Bologna, Trento, Roma Tor Vergata, Uninettuno and the Institutes INAF-IAPS (Italian National Institute of Astrophysics and Planetology) and

INGV The National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (, INGV) is a research institute for geophysics and volcanology Volcanology (also spelled vulcanology) is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma and related geology, geological, geophysical and ...

(Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology). The LIMADOU Collaboration has designed, built and tested the High Energy Particle Detector (HEPD) of the CSES mission, conceived for optimizing detection of energetic charged particles precipitating from the inner Van Allen belts (as a result of seismic and non-seismic electromagnetic perturbations); it has collaborated in developing and testing the Electronic Field Detector (EFD) in the INAF-IAPS plasma chamber in Rome, and it participates in the data analysis of all payloads of the CSES mission.

Satellite and instruments

CSES is a 3-axes stabilized satellite, based on the Chinese CAST2000 platform, with a mass of about 730 kg and a peak of power consumption of about 900 W. Scientific data will be transmitted in X-band at 120 Mbit/s. The orbit is circular Sun-synchronous, at an altitude of about 500 km, an inclination of about 98°, and descending node at 14:00 LT. The CSES payload includes: two particle detectors (the High-Energy Particle Detectors (HEPD) and the High-Energy Particle Package (HEPP)) to measure flux, energy spectrum, type and direction of impinging particles; a Search-Coil Magnetometer (SCM) and a High Precision Magnetometer (HPM) to measure the components and the total intensity of the magnetic field, respectively; a four probes Electric Field Detector (EFD) to measure the electric field components in a wide frequencies range; a Plasma analyzer Package (PAP) and a Langmuir probe (LP) to measure plasma parameters; a GNSS Occultation Receiver and a Tri-Band Beacon to measure the density of electrons and to perform ionospheric tomography. The High Precision Magnetometer (HPM) is developed in cooperation between the National Space Science Center (NSSC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the

Space Research Institute The Russian Space Research Institute (; SRI RAS, Russian abbreviation: ИКИ РАН, IKI RAN) is the leading organization of the Russian Academy of Sciences on space exploration to benefit fundamental science. It was formerly known as the Space ...

(IWF) of the

Austrian Academy of Sciences The Austrian Academy of Sciences (; ÖAW) is a legal entity under the special protection of the Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every fi ...

(ÖAW) and the Institute of Experimental Physics (IEP) of the Graz University of Technology. NSSC is responsible for the dual sensor fluxgate magnetometer, the instrument processor and the power supply unit, while IWF and IEP participate with a scalar magnetometer (CDSM). Each instrument will collect data in two operating modes: ‘‘burst mode’’, activated when the satellite passes over China and the more seismic regions of the Earth, and ‘‘survey mode” for other areas of the planet. There are two different orbital working zones: the ‘‘payload operating zone’’, for geomagnetic latitudes between -65° and +65° (where the instruments will collect data) and the ‘‘platform adjustment zone’’, at higher latitudes (where all detectors will be switched off to perform the satellite attitude control and the orbital maintenance activities).

Satellites

The first CSES-1 Satellite was launched from the

Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC; also known as Shuangchengzi Missile Test Center; Launch Complex B2; formally Northwest Comprehensive Missile Testing Facility (); Base 20; 63600 Unit) is a Chinese space vehicle launch facility ( spacep ...

in the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

(Inner

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

) on February 2, 2018. The launch of the second satellite CSES-2 is launched on June 14, 2025.

References

{{Orbital launches in 2018 Satellites of Italy Satellites of China Spacecraft launched in 2018 2018 in China 2018 in Italy Geospace monitoring satellites Zhang Heng