CubeSat Missions to Study Radiation Belt Electron Dynamics and Loss
Abstract
Interest in CubeSats has grown dramatically in the past decade within the space physics community. While CubeSats are generally accepted now to be useful tools for education and technology development/demonstration, their ability to provide scientific value is often still questioned. Radiation belt physics, however, is one area in which the scientific utility of these small platforms has been demonstrated and continues to offer great promise. Here we'll present some highlights from recent, along with upcoming, radiation belt-related CubeSat missions. The Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment (CSSWE) CubeSat, launched in 2012 and designed, built, and operated by students at University of Colorado, was one of the first of now a long line of successful CubeSats designed to study radiation belt dynamics. Results from CSSWE will be presented, with an emphasis on how these measurements have been combined with those from balloons and larger satellite missions to better understand radiation belt electron acceleration and loss processes. A status update of the more recent Compact Radiation belt Explorer (CeREs) CubeSat, built at NASA/Goddard and scheduled for an April 2018 launch, will also be presented. Finally, we'll discuss a plan to move beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) with the upcoming GTOsat CubeSat currently in development, which will fly in a geosynchronous transfer orbit providing energetic electron measurements through the heart of the radiation belts. Radiation belt studies are a prime example of how small, low-cost spacecraft can be used to provide valuable scientific measurements and complement larger missions.
- Publication:
-
42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- July 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018cosp...42E.383B