Collaborative Research: CubeSat-based Ground-to-Space Bistatic Radar Experiment--Radio Aurora Explorer

合作研究：基于CubeSat的地对空双基地雷达实验--Radio Aurora Explorer

• 批准号: 0838054
• 负责人: Hasan Bahcivan
• 金额: $ 38.11万
• 依托单位: SRI International
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-09-01 至 2011-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0838054&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; CubeSat; based; Ground

This project is a collaboration between a space science Principal Investigator (PI) at SRI International and an engineering PI at University of Michigan. The objective of this three-year cross-disciplinary team effort is to build and operate a tiny, so-called CubeSat, spacecraft carrying a UHF radar receiver payload. Launch of the satellite will be as a secondary on a Department of Defense launch scheduled for December 2009. The satellite will be operated in coordination with the AMISR incoherent scatter radar from the ground to investigate the radio aurora from field-aligned irregularities in the high-latitude ionosphere. The primary scientific objective of the Radio Aurora Explorer (RAE) mission is to understand the microphysics of plasma instabilities that lead to field-aligned irregularities (FAI) of electron density in the polar lower (80-300 km) ionosphere. The RAE mission is specifically designed to remotely measure, with extremely high angular resolution (~0.5 degree), the wave spectrum of ~1 m scale FAI as a function of altitude, in particular measuring the magnetic field alignment of the irregularities. Due to the magnetic field geometry at high latitudes this bi-static (ground radar to satellite) configuration, in which a narrow radar beam is scattered off the FAI and then observed by the CubeSat receiver, is the only way to perform these measurements. Better understanding of ionospheric irregularities and their role in ionospheric dynamics is an important space weather research objective because plasma structures in the ionosphere can have an adverse effect on communications via satellite, HF and VHF radio and as well as an adverse effect on navigation, tracking, and positioning. The project has a very strong educational component; it relies on extensive undergraduate and graduate student involvement through all aspects of the mission. The new, largely unproven technology involved in cubesat missions, inherently makes the project associated with significant risks. On the other hand, however, the project has tremendous potential to be transformational not only within its own research area but also for the larger field of space science and atmospheric research as well as within aerospace engineering and education.

该项目是SRI国际空间科学首席研究员（PI）和密歇根大学工程PI之间的合作。 这个为期三年的跨学科团队的目标是建造和操作一个小型的所谓立方体卫星，携带一个超高频雷达接收器有效载荷的航天器。 这颗卫星的发射将作为国防部定于2009年12月发射的第二颗卫星。 该卫星将与地面的AMISR非相干散射雷达协调运行，以调查高纬度电离层场向不规则现象产生的无线电极光。 极光无线电探测器（RAE）使命的主要科学目标是了解等离子体不稳定性的微观物理学，这种不稳定性导致极地低电离层（80-300公里）电子密度的场向不规则性。 RAE使命是专门设计用于以极高的角分辨率（~0.5度）远程测量作为高度函数的~1米尺度FAI的波谱，特别是测量不规则体的磁场对准。 由于高纬度地区的磁场几何形状，这种双基地（地面雷达到卫星）配置是执行这些测量的唯一方法，其中狭窄的雷达波束从FAI散射，然后由CubeSat接收器观察。 更好地了解电离层不规则性及其在电离层动态中的作用是一个重要的空间气象研究目标，因为电离层中的等离子体结构可能对通过卫星、高频和甚高频无线电进行的通信产生不利影响，并对导航、跟踪和定位产生不利影响。 该项目有一个非常强大的教育组成部分;它依赖于广泛的本科生和研究生参与使命的各个方面。 立方体卫星任务所涉及的新技术基本上未经证实，这本身就使该项目与重大风险联系在一起。 然而，另一方面，该项目具有巨大的潜力，不仅在其自身的研究领域，而且在更大的空间科学和大气研究领域以及航空航天工程和教育领域都具有变革性。