CubeSat: CubeSat for Ions, Neutrals, Electron, and Magnetic Fields (CINEMA)

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The objective of this three-year cross-disciplinary team effort is to build and operate a tiny, so-called CubeSat, spacecraft. CINEMA (CubeSat for Ions, Neutrals, Electron, and Magnetic Fields) is a 3U CubeSat carrying a particle sensor and a magnetometer. The particle instrument is a further development of a particle sensor that was flown on the NASA STEREO mission. The Suprathermal Electrons, Ions, Neutrals (STEIN) instrument is an enhancement of STEREO/STE, including an electrostatic deflector. CINEMA's STEIN instrument will image ring current and substorm injected particles in local time at a cadence as fast as 30 s (spin period), through 4-20 keV (energy range of the bulk of ring current ions) ENA (Energetic Neutral Atom) measurements with high sensitivity and energy resolution (approx. 1 keV). The spin axis and imaging plane of STEIN have been specifically chosen to rapidly image the storm-time asymmetric ring-current pressure distribution that drives the Region 2 currents into the ionosphere (the fundamental M-I coupling mechanism). CINEMA will provide in situ electron and ion measurements extending approximately from 2-4 keV to 100 keV from a single detector. The magnetometer will be supplied by Imperial College. It uses a magneto resistive element and will be deployed on a spring-loaded 1m long boom. An extensive national and international team will contribute to the project. Partners include NASA Ames, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Johns Hopkins University/APL, Kyung-Hee University, Korea, and Imperial College London, United Kingdom. Specifically, KHU will provide a second identical CINEMA spacecraft (in orbit), developed with Korean World Class University (WCU) program funding. The plan is that both spacecraft be launched into high inclination low Earth orbits (LEOs) in 2011 for a one-year nominal science mission. The double CINEMA project will provide unique, high sensitivity ENA mapping and high cadence movies of ring current ENAs in stereo from low earth orbit. It will also make 2-point direct supra-thermal electron and ion measurements in the auroral and ring current precipitation regions and elsewhere in the magnetosphere.Space weather refers to conditions in space that can influence the performance and reliability of space-borne and ground-based technological systems. Understanding magnetic storms, substorms and particle precipitation are fundamentally important space weather research goals. CINEMA will provide a powerful new capability for high sensitivity and energy resolution imaging from LEO, especially of the azimuthal dependence of the ring current. Azimuthal pressure gradients can drive storm time magnetospheric-ionospheric coupling, and Sub-Auroral Polarization Streams (SAPS). Ions of these energies are hypothesized to drive the generation of EMIC waves that precipitate MeV-energy "killer" electrons. In addition, the development of the miniature sensors and spinning cubesat system is important for future space weather research conducted by constellations of tens or more, small (cubesat-sized) spacecraft. The project will pursue scientific discovery while providing unique and inspiring educational opportunities. It relies on extensive undergraduate and graduate student involvement through all aspects of the mission. The involvement of students in every area of the project will provide educational benefits at all of the participating institutions. In addition to the hands-on work, the mission will provide material for classes that will serve to motivate students with regard to science and engineering. 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. In addition, the project will be one of the first two to carry out a multi-spacecraft CubeSat mission, thus pushing the limit of this emerging technology.