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Analysis of institutional authors

Bermejo-Ballesteros, JAuthorGarcia, SAuthorCubas, JAuthorSanz, AAuthor

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July 5, 2021
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L2-CalSat: A Calibration Satellite for Ultra-Sensitive CMB Polarization Space Missions

Publicated to: SENSORS. 21 (10): 3361- - 2021-05-01 21(10), DOI: 10.3390/s21103361

Authors:

Casas, Francisco J; Martinez-Gonzalez, Enrique; Bermejo-Ballesteros, Juan; Garcia, Sergio; Cubas, Javier; Vielva, Patricio; Barreiro, Rita B; Sanz, Angel
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Affiliations

Inst Fis Cantabria IFCA, CSIC UC, Avda Castros S-N, Santander 39005, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Inst Univ Ignacio Da Riva IDR UPM, Plaza Cardenal Cisneros 3, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author

Abstract

In this work, the use of a calibration satellite (L2-CalSat) flying in formation with a Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization mission in an orbit located at the second Lagrange point, is proposed. The new generation of CMB telescopes are expected to reach unprecedented levels of sensitivity to allow a very precise measurement of the B-mode of polarization, the curl-like polarization component expected from gravitational waves coming from Starobinski inflationary models. Due to the CMB polarized signal weakness, the instruments must be subjected to very precise calibration processes before and after launching. Celestial sources are often used as external references for calibration after launch, but these sources are not perfectly characterized. As a baseline option, L2-CalSat is based on the CubeSat standard and serves as a perfectly known source of a reference signal to reduce polarization measurements uncertainty. A preliminary design of L2-CalSat is described and, according to the scanning strategy followed by the telescope, the influence of the relative position between the spacecrafts in the calibration process is studied. This new calibration element will have a huge impact on the performance of CMB space missions, providing a significant improvement in the measurements accuracy without requiring new and costly technological developments.
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Keywords

B-modesCalibrationCmb polarizationCubesatFormation flight

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal SENSORS due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Instrumentation.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.06. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 13, 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2026-04-13, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 16
  • Scopus: 17
  • Google Scholar: 3
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-13:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 11.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 11 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 1.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 2 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: Last Author (SANZ ANDRES, ANGEL PEDRO).

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Awards linked to the item

This research was funded by the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (AEI, MICIU) by means of the projects with references ESP2017-92135-EXP, ESP2017-83921-C2-1-R, AYA2017-90675REDC, and PID2019-110610RB-C21/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 co-funded with EU FEDER funds. We also acknowledge the funding from Unidad de Excelencia Maria de Maeztu (MDM-2017-0765).
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