Validation of a CCD cosmic ray event simulator against Gaia in-orbit data

ESA’s astrometry mission Gaia was launched in 2013 to establish the most accurate and complete map of the Milky Way by measuring the distance, position, proper motion, and astrophysical characteristics of two billion stars. It contains the largest focal plane ever flown in space comprising 106 CCDs. To downlink to Earth only useful data, an on-board algorithm was designed to discriminate between e.g. stars and cosmics- ionizing tracks left by energetic particles. A cosmic ray event generation simulator was developed to train and optimize this on-board source detection algorithm. We can now validate this model against Gaia data.