An instrument error budget for space-based absolute flux measurements of the sky synchrotron spectrum below 20 MHz

Abstract

This work describes the instrumental error budget for space-based measurements of the absolute flux of the sky synchrotron spectrum at frequencies below the ionospheric cutoff (≤20 MHz). We focus on an architecture using electrically short dipoles onboard a small satellite. The error budget combines the contributions of the dipole dimensions, plasma noise, stray capacitance, and front-end amplifier input impedance. We treat the errors using both a Monte Carlo error propagation model and an analytical method. This error budget can be applied to a variety of experiments and used to ultimately improve the sensing capabilities of space-based electrically short dipole instruments. The impact of individual uncertainty components, particularly stray capacitance, is explored in more detail.