The proposed CubeSat E-field instrument will enable multipoint e-field measurements to be made economically in the region between 300 and 1000km. This is relevant to the scientific goals outlined in the 2013-2022 decadal survey in solar and space physics, as stated: "Determine the dynamics and coupling of the earth?s magnetosphere, ionosphere and atmosphere and their response to solar and terrestrial inputs." It is also relevant to the NASA 2009 Heliophysics Roadmap, as outlined in the living with a star science queue: "Dynamic Geospace Coupling: Understand how magnetospheric dynamics provide energy into the coupled ionosphere-magnetosphere system." In addition, the proposed boom technology can be used for magnetometers, particle sensors, gravity gradient stabilization for small spacecraft, or for deploying solar sails, solar arrays and phased array antennas.
The U.S. military has increasing interest in utilizing low-cost spacecraft platforms that can be rapidly launched for the purposes of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and space weather monitoring. The proposed instrument would have applicability for missions similar to the Air Force's Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS), which allows the U.S. military to predict the effects of ionospheric activity on signals from communication and navigation satellites, outages of which could potentially cause problems in battlefield situations. In addition, both military and commercial satellites could use gravity gradient booms, instrument booms, optical and antenna reflectors, sunshades, deorbiting systems, solar arrays, phased arrays, and solar sails based on this deployment technology.
More »