Welcome to NORM Space Radiation Data
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The Mission
The Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) is composed of two satellites placed in highly elliptical orbits, specifically a Three-Apogee (TAP) orbit at 63° inclination, with an orbital period of 16 hours, and crossing altitudes between 8,700 and 43,000 km over Northern hemisphere. While the primary mission of ASBM is to provide broadband telecommunication services over the Arctic area, a payload for space radiation monitoring has been fitted on-board one of the satellites. NORM (NOrwegian Radiation Monitor) aims to observe the radiation environment in orbit and gather data for the development of radiation protection for future missions, by measuring the kinetic energy of charged particles in space. The first NORM is on board the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM). ASBM was launched on the 11th of August 2024. The mission lifetime is 15 years, and NORM is expected to be operated for at least the first 5 years. The radiation environment along ASBM is rather severe as the unique TAP-HEO orbit encounters different radiation environment domains. NORM will provide invaluable measurements of energetic charged particle fluxes accounting the inner proton belt, the core of the dynamic outer electron radiation belt and the intermittent solar energetic protons. It is expected that ASBM/NORM measurements will be invaluable for validating and/or contributing existing or new space radiation environment characterisation models.
EU Space Programme and NORM
The European Union has teamed up with the Norwegian Space Authorities to acquire the data from the NORM mission. A contract is in place where data will be continuously recorded by the mission control in Norway and delivered to the European Union’s Joint Research Centre, Ispra.
The EU Space Programme is the first integrated space programme created by the European Union to support its space policy, address societal challenges such as climate change and technological innovation, support the EU internal market – and more.
Today, the programme consists of: Copernicus, EGNOS, Galileo, Secure SATCOM, and SSA. The data coming from NORM will be useful for design, operations, and diagnosis of all the EU Space components.
The EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) is making these radiation data available to the scientific community through the GSC web portal to contribute to the broader understanding of Sun-Earth interaction and of the effects of space weather on Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere, and other space-based technologies.
We aim to support researchers and educators with access to comprehensive data that helps address key scientific questions and societal challenges.
About the Instrument
NORM: The Norwegian Radiation Monitor (NORM) is a compact, single particle-telescope-based radiation monitor developed for measuring energetic electrons and protons in space environment. NORM has been designed as an easily adaptable space radiation monitor for satellite missions in GEO, LEO, and HEO allowing the measurement of electrons within energy range 0.5 – 7 MeV and of protons withing energy range 7 – 200 MeV. The resulting coarse differential flux spectra for electrons and protons will allows for rough dosimetry, the characterisation of the radiation environment and the monitoring of its variation over time.
System Design: The NORM instrument consists of two main physical units, with the particle detector stack and integrated readout electronics in one unit and the power supply and communication electronics in the other. The radiation detector is a particle telescope made of 9 silicon diodes and aluminium/tantalum absorbers shielded in a tantalum vault. The diodes generate an electrical charge when they are exposed to charged particles. The charges are measured in the IDEAS IDE3466 readout ASIC, compared against thresholds, and matched against programmable coincidence patterns, producing a histogram. All data processing and communication is realized using a Microchip SAMRH71 ARM microcontroller providing MIL-STD-1553B and CAN-BUS interfaces as well as other options.
Figure 1: The NORM instrument (Photo-Credit: Integrated Detector Electronic AS)
Additional technical details on the NORM instrument can be found here.
Data Access
To request access to the NORM space radiation datasets, users are kindly asked to follow the steps below:
1. Click the Request for Access button and fill in the form.
2. Download and Sign the Terms and conditions (T&C) document.
3. Upload the signed T&C document: After signing the Terms and Conditions, please upload the signed document via the Help Desk form. To submit your application, access the GSC Help Desk at www.gsc-europa.eu (registration is required) and select “Raise your questions”. In the question form, type NORM Request for Access as the subject and chose "Not related to a specific service" as the service your question relates to. In the Attachment section of the form, upload the signed Terms and Conditions document. Please ensure that the file name contains only Latin alphabet characters to avoid any issues during the upload process. This step is essential to complete your request for access.
4. Optional, if you intend to publish the data: In addition to the steps above, you must also complete the Request for Publication form. This can either be done at the same time through the data request form or, if preferred, you can submit it later through the dedicated Request for Publication form.
If you need assistance, please contact the GSC Help Desk.
Note: Access to the NORM data is subject to approval by the Partners of the NORM mission. In case your request is approved, you will receive an email with your credentials to access and download the data. Credentials are issued at the beginning of each month.