Impact of the CubeSat Radiometer Radio Frequency Interference Technology Validation (CubeRRT) mission on future resource-constrained science missions

The CubeSat Radiometer Radio Frequency Interference Technology Validation (CubeRRT) mission is developing a 6U CubeSat system to demonstrate radio frequency interference (RFI) detection and mitigation technologies for future microwave radiometer remote sensing missions. CubeRRT will perform observations of Earth brightness temperatures from 6-40 GHz using a 1 GHz bandwidth, 128 channel, digital spectrometer and will demonstrate on-board real-time RFI processing. The maturation of the RFI processor information system from TRL 5 to 7 is a key mission objective that is expected to facilitate the operation of next generation, high bandwidth radiometers in future satellite remote sensing systems. The CubeRRT payload and spacecraft are currently under development, with an expected launch date in March 2018 followed by a one year period of on-orbit operations. A critical challenge of this mission is the optimization of spacecraft resource usage while achieving sufficient sensor performance to satisfy mission requirements. Specifically, operation planning must balance limited electrical power and data downlink capacity. A simulation tool has been developed to optimize mission planning, and performance data from CubeRRT operations will validate the simulations and provide insight for future missions with similar resource constraints.