Researchers Are Part of the Successful Air Force DSX Satellite Mission

Paul Song Image by Edwin L. Aguirre
Physics Prof. Paul Song is the director of the university’s Space Science Laboratory.

07/29/2024
By Edwin L. Aguirre

Physics Prof. Paul Song and his research group are part of an Air Force DSX satellite mission team that recently won a Rotary National Award for Space Achievement “Stellar Award.” 
The annual award, founded by the nonprofit Space Center Rotary Club of Houston, Texas, in 1985, recognizes teams and individuals whose “accomplishments hold the greatest promise for furthering future activities in space.” 
The Stellar Award honors the DSX team for its “successful demonstration of several new space technologies and capabilities in orbit in support of our National Defense Strategy.” Aside from UMass Lowell, the other co-winners include the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Space Systems Command, the U.S. Department of Energy, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Stanford University and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. 
DSX satellite Image by NASA
This artist’s rendering shows the Air Force DSX satellite in Earth orbit. The mission was designed to study our planet’s radiation belts.
“It was a team effort,” says Song, who directs the UML Space Science Laboratory. “UMass Lowell played a key role in the mission, and we are glad it is garnering national recognition.”
Mitigating the Threat Posed by ‘Killer Electrons’
Song and his group – Research Profs. Ivan Galkin and Jiannan Tu, Project Manager Stephen Stelmash and Prof. Emeritus Bodo Reinisch – were specifically cited for their contributions to the radio experiment aboard the DSX satellite, which was launched in 2019. 
Paul Song and Ivan Galkin working in the lab Image by Edwin L. Aguirre
Song and Research Prof. Ivan Galkin, right, work on an engineering model of the very low frequency (VLF) transmitter at the Space Science Lab in 2018.
They designed, built and operated a high-power space radio-wave transmitter to send out very low frequency (VLF) transmissions into the Van Allen radiation belts, using a long dipole antenna that measured 80 meters from tip to tip when deployed. The radiation belts are two vast, doughnut-shaped regions surrounding the Earth, where energetic charged particles from the sun are trapped by our planet’s magnetic field and are prevented from reaching Earth.
The goal of the VLF transmissions is to reduce the threat posed by extremely high-energy particles within the radiation belts – dubbed “killer electrons” – that can pose a hazard to the health of astronauts and shorten the lifespan of orbiting satellites.
“These electrons, traveling at nearly the speed of light, are capable of damaging the satellites’ sensitive electronics and exposing astronauts to high doses of radiation,” Song says. 
According to Song, the resulting wave-particle interactions from the VLF transmissions may help deplete these harmful electrons, but more research still needs to be done in future missions.
The group’s findings were published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports in 2022.

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