Lists of Magnetic Conjunction between FIREBIRD-II and RBSP missions

Magnetic conjunctions between RBSP and FIREBIRD-II satellites

The archived csv files contain conjunctions between each FIREBIRD-II CubeSat (FU3, FU4) and RBSP satellite (RBSPA, RBSPB).

Conjunction definition

We used the T89 magnetic field model with real-time kp to calculate the `startTime` and `endTime` during which the each satellite pair was within `dL` and `dMLT` of each other (in conjunction). We generated files with two sets of `dL` and `dMLT`: 0.5 and 1---both are annotated in the filename by `dLXY` and `dMLTXY`.

For example, the `FU3_RBSPA_conjunctions_dL05_dMLT05_final.csv` file contains conjunctions between FU3 and RBSPA defined by `dL < 0.5` and `dMLT < 0.5`.

We targeted outer radiation belt conjunctions, and set a minimum L shell of a conjunction to 3.

Data availability

Given its sparse availability, we only calculated conjunctions when FIREBIRD-II was taking `Context` and `HiRes` data. The `hr` filename suffix contains only conjunctions with `HiRes` data, and filename with no such suffix contain conjunctions during all FIREBIRD campaign s where it took `Context` data.

File contents

1. `startTime` - The first time when dL and dMLT were within the conjunction threshold.

2. `endTime` - The last time when dL and dMLT were within the conjunction threshold.

3. `meanL` - The mean L-shell of the conjunction.

4. `meanMLT` - The mean MLT of the conjunction. This and meanL columns give you a sense of where the conjunction occured.

5. `minMLT` - The minimum MLT separation between FIREBIRD and RBSP. The L-shells intersect in each conjunction (minimum `dL=0`), so `minMLT` represents the `dMLT` at that time.  

6. `minD [km]` - An experimental value representing the minimum footprint separation at 500 km, in units of km. Both spacecraft were mapped to both hemispheres and the minimum of the two hemispheres taken.