DIME-2 Flown as Part of NASA’s SET-1 on the DSX Satellite

The objective of the Dosimetry Inter-comparison and Miniaturization Experiment (DIME) approach is to compare different miniature electronic dosimeters for monitoring exposure to ionizing radiation primarily in terms of potential degradation due to total ionizing dose (TID) and the threat of single event effects (SEEs). As the title implies, DIME is divided in two parts: DIME-1 is a passive board that is turned on only to read the cumulative dose and DIME-2 is an active board that requires continuous power to monitor the radiation-induced energy depositions that can lead to SEE. This article describes the details of the operation of DIME-2 and the results of the flight on the Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) satellite which orbited the Earth in an elliptical middle earth orbit (MEO) orbit that extended from 6000 to 12 000 km at an inclination of 42° thereby crossing the entire slot region between the inner and outer electron belts. Measurements made every 15 min consistently showed a large peak in the energy depositions at perigee and a small one near apogee with fewer events in the slot region.