Solar-Sail CubeSats for Space Weather Monitoring from Earth-Sun L-points
Abstract
This presentation describes the possibilities for space weather monitoring that solar-sail CubeSats would enable from the Sun-Earth L-points. The mission proposed consists of a 6U CubeSats system with solar-sail propulsion to reach and orbit the L4 and L5 Earth-Sun Lagragian points. The payload would include compact "in-situ" instrumentation (e.g., radiation dosimeters) and a miniature visible-light, wide-angle coronagraph (WACor). The WACor observations of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) travelling along the the Earth-Sun interplanetary space would allow early warning of geo-effective solar storms. This presentation will illustrate the mission profile and the solar-sail orbit at the L-points, and will describe the expected performances of the miniature WACor in detecting fast (>1000 km/s), Earth-directed CMEs.
- Publication:
-
40th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014cosp...40E.870F