Small Sensors for Space Weather: CubeSat Missions

The DoD is actively pursuing enhancing the nation’s space weather (SWx) sensing capability. One aspect of this plan is the concept of flying a SWx sensor suite on host spacecraft as secondary payloads. The emergence and advancement of the CubeSat spacecraft architecture has produced a viable platform for scientifically and operationally relevant SWx sensing. This mission will provide the ability to demonstrate low size weight and power (SWaP) SWx sensor technology via the CubeSat platform. The mission will consist of a flight of four CubeSats, split into two groups of identical space weather payload configurations. Payload configurations include in-situ sensors for ion and neutral density, temperature composition and winds, and a 1356A UV photometer and a dual frequency GPS receiver for electron density. An overview of the sensors, data products, and scientific goals will be presented.