Space Environment NanoSat Experiment (SENSE) - A New Frontier in Operational Space Environmental Monitoring (Invited)
Abstract
The Space Environmental NanoSat Experiment (SENSE) program is a rapid development effort of the USAF Space and Missiles Center Development Planning Directorate (SMC/XR) which will demonstrate the capability of NanoSats to perform space missions in an affordable and resilient manner. The three primary objectives for the SENSE mission are: 1) to develop best practices for operational CubeSat/NanoSat procurement, development, test, and operations; 2) to mature CubeSat bus and sensor component technology readiness levels; and 3) to demonstrate the operational utility of CubeSat measurements by flowing validated, low-latency data into operational space weather models. SENSE consists of two 3-U CubeSats built by Boeing Phantom Works. Both satellites are 3-axis stabilized with star cameras for attitude determination and are equipped with a Compact Total Electron Density Sensor (CTECS) to provide radio occultation measurements of total electron content and L-band scintillation. One satellite has a Cubesat Tiny Ionospheric Photometer (CTIP) monitoring 135.6 nm photons produced by the recombination of O+ ions and electrons. The other satellite has a Wind Ion Neutral Composite Suite (WINCS) to acquire simultaneous co-located, in situ measurements of atmospheric and ionospheric density, composition, temperature and winds/drifts. Mission data will be used to improve current and future space weather models and demonstrate the utility of data from CubeSats for operational weather requirements. Launch is scheduled for November 2013, and we will discuss the first 30 days of on-orbit operations.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFMSA31B..02K
- Keywords:
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- 7900 SPACE WEATHER;
- 2403 IONOSPHERE Active experiments;
- 2494 IONOSPHERE Instruments and techniques;
- 2439 IONOSPHERE Ionospheric irregularities