Low Resource Particle Sensors for Space Science Research and Applications

This paper will discuss the low resource space science instrument development life cycle at the Aerospace Corporation. The goal will be to provide an overview of instrument technologies immediately available for near-term experiments or for future applications. Instruments in development, delivered for flight missions, and those currently in-flight will be presented. Some particle sensors leverage instrument electronics technology flown on major scientific missions like Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) and Van Allen Probes (RBSP), but with comparatively low size, weight, and power (SWAP). Additional sensors are developed with even lower SWAP and greater simplicity for broader applications. Collectively, these sensors employ modular designs enabling tailoring to different measurement requirements, while at the same time preserving ease of integration and straightforward operation on resource-limited spacecraft. The overview of instruments currently operating in-flight will include discussion about interfacing and commanding of charged particle sensors on recent Aerospace CubeSat buses (AeroCubes) as well as presentations of on-orbit measurements from these sensors. The presentations of on-orbit measurements may also include the application of the measurements to a cross-discipline study to understand the impacts of charged particle radiation on the performance of space solar cells flown on the same AeroCube. Future missions could employ similar low resource particle sensors to supply in-situ measurements needed to continue advancing space science or space weather research.