Collaborative Research: CubeSat: Focused Investigations of Relativistic Electron Burst Intensity, Range, and Dynamics (FIREBIRD)

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。该项目是波士顿大学和蒙大拿州立大学空间科学家和工程师的合作项目。这项为期三年的跨学科团队工作的目标是建造和操作一套微小的、所谓的立方体卫星航天器。每颗卫星都将携带一个大几何系数的固态探测器，对从辐射带沉淀的电子很敏感。火鸟任务(相对论电子爆发强度、射程和动力学的重点调查)是一项有针对性的、以目标为导向的空间天气立方体卫星任务，目的是解决范艾伦辐射带中电子微暴的空间尺度、大小和能量相关性。相对论电子微暴看起来是低空航天器上的粒子探测器测量到的短时间内强烈的电子沉淀，当它们的轨道与贯穿外辐射带的磁场线相交时可以看到。虽然微暴被认为是相对论电子的一种重要损失机制，但人们仍然对它们知之甚少，从而使地球S辐射带的空间天气模型变得不完整。火鸟？S充分利用立方体卫星平台的能力，在低海拔进行了独特的两点聚焦观测，将回答三个与空间气象有关的基本科学问题：单个微暴的空间尺度大小？单个微暴的能量依赖性？以及全球微暴产生的总电子损失有多少？除了涉及基础空间物理研究和空间气象应用外，火鸟调查还有助于在该项目的所有阶段对不同群体的大学生进行培训和教育。学生将主要负责仪器和航天器的设计和实施，同时接受每个专家领域的专业人员的指导。其影响是，这项调查的成果将持续多年，如果不是几十年的话，因为20名或更多的学生？在这项科学任务中，成为实践中的科学家和工程师。立方体卫星任务中涉及的新的、基本上未经验证的技术，本质上使该项目与重大风险联系在一起。然而，另一方面，该项目不仅在其自身的研究领域内，而且在更大的空间科学和大气研究领域，以及在航空航天工程和教育领域，都具有巨大的变革潜力。此外，该项目将是首批执行多航天器立方体卫星任务的两个项目之一，从而突破这一新兴技术的极限。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This project is a collaboration between space scientists and engineers at Boston University and Montana State University. The objective of this three-year cross-disciplinary team effort is to build and operate a set of tiny, so-called CubeSat, spacecraft. Each satellite will carry a single large-geometry-factor, solid-state detector, sensitive to electrons precipitating from the radiation belts. The FIREBIRD mission (Focused Investigations of Relativistic Electron Burst Intensity, Range, and Dynamics) is a targeted, goal-directed, space weather CubeSat mission to resolve the spatial scale size and energy dependence of electron microbursts in the Van Allen radiation belts. Relativistic electron microbursts appear as short durations of intense electron precipitation measured by particle detectors on low altitude spacecraft, seen when their orbits cross magnetic field lines which thread the outer radiation belt. While microbursts are thought to be a significant loss mechanism for relativistic electrons, they remain poorly understood, thus rendering space weather models of Earth?s radiation belts incomplete. FIREBIRD?s unique two-point, focused observations at low altitudes, that fully exploit the capabilities of the CubeSat platform, will answer three fundamental scientific questions with space weather implications: What is the spatial scale size of an individual microburst?; What is the energy dependence of an individual microburst?; and How much total electron loss from the radiation belts do microbursts produce globally? In addition to addressing fundamental space physics research and space weather applications, the FIREBIRD investigation also contributes to the training and education of a diverse population of university students in all phases of the project. Students will have major responsibility for the design and implementation of the instruments and the spacecraft while at the same time being mentored by professionals in each expert area. The impact is that the fruits of this investigation will continue strongly for years, if not decades, as the twenty or more students who ?cut their teeth? on this science mission become practicing scientists and engineers. 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.