HyperAngular Rainbow Polarimeter HARP-CubeSat (HARP)

It is the goal to have HARP become a secondary payload on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2016. The desired mission life consists of three months for technology demonstration and an extended science data period of another seven months, which will total almost a year on orbit. The existing Dynamic Ionosphere CubeSat Experiment (DICE) ground station and mission operations center that includes use of the NASA Wallops Flight Facility UHF dish will be used for uplink and downlink communications on HARP. Magnetometers, sun sensors, 3-axis torque coils, and reaction wheels (BCT ADCS system) will be used to maintain 3-axis spacecraft stability and pointing to < 0.5°. Level zero data will then be sent to the science operation center at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) where it will be calibrated, processed, and converted to nal products. The HARP CubeSat mission will be a joint eort between UMBC, the PI institution, who will provide the instrument and characterization and scientic analysis; the Space Dynamics Laboratory – Utah State University, who will provide the 3U CubeSat spacecraft and mission operations; and the Science and Technology Corporation, who will lead the science algorithm development and science application funded by NOAA. NASA Wallops will support instrument environmental testing, mission operations, and communications. The program is in support of the NASA Earth Science Technology Oce (ESTO). More »