Collaborative Research: CubeSat Ideas Lab: Space Weather Atmospheric Reconfigurable Multiscale Experiment (SWARM-EX) CubeSats

立方体卫星是小型化、轻量、低成本的卫星。 由于这些特性，由 10 至 100 个立方体卫星组成的星座以及用于研究空间环境的专用仪器为了解和预测空间天气提供了一个新的令人兴奋的机会。 空间天气大气可重构多尺度实验（SWARM-EX）项目为空间天气设计和建造立方体卫星星座迈出了重要的一步。 SWARM-EX 将由三颗相同的立方体卫星组成，这些立方体卫星采用新技术，用于卫星之间的无线电通信、星载推进、先进的数据下行链路和星座内的自主操作。 每颗卫星都将测量地球高层大气中的电离气体和中性气体，研究赤道附近的结构。 SWARM-EX 的使命是为 STEM 教育提供独特的机会，并为公众宣传提供平台。 SWARM-EX 将建立第一个校际 CubeSat 指导计划 - 与已经建立 CubeSat 计划的机构合作，通过新计划在全国范围内创建长期的、基于项目的学习环境。 教学、培训和学习也将通过来自六个分布在 SWARM-EX 的大学项目的多名研究生和本科生的参与来推进。 该项目源自创意实验室：CubeSat Innovations 的跨领域计划，这是一个由地球科学、工程以及计算机和信息科学与工程理事会支持的跨学科计划。SWARM-EX 是通过全球 CubeSat 群星座在 300 至 600 公里高度之间进行原位电离层和热层测量而解决突出的航空学问题的大胆一步。 每个群中的立方体卫星的间隔范围为 1 到 1000 公里，这种间隔将通过差动阻力和星载推进力的组合来控制。该项目支持的探路者任务将使用 3 颗相同的立方体卫星来演示 SWARM-EX 关键技术，并解决与赤道电离异常 (EIA) 和赤道热层异常 (ETA) 演化相关的科学问题。 具体的航空学问题是 1) EIA 和 ETA 特征中血浆密度和中性氧的持久性和相关性如何？ 2) 在什么时间尺度（少于 90 分钟）内，我们观察到非迁移潮汐和地磁活动导致的 EIA/ETA 特性变化？ 这些立方体卫星将展示新技术，包括射频交叉链路、推进、CDMA X 波段数据下行链路和星载自主权。 此外，每个立方体卫星将包括一个原子氧传感器和朗缪尔探测器，从而进行回答所提出的科学问题所需的测量。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

CubeSats are miniaturized, low-weight, low-cost satellites. Due to these properties, constellations of 10s-100s of CubeSats with specialized instruments for studying the space environment provide a new exciting opportunity to understand and predict space weather. The Space Weather Atmospheric Reconfigurable Multiscale Experiment (SWARM-EX) project provides an important step in the advancement of designing and building CubeSat constellations for space weather. SWARM-EX will consist of three identical CubeSats with novel technologies for radio communications between satellites, onboard propulsion, advanced data downlinks, and autonomous operations within the constellation. Each satellite will measure ionized and neutral gases in the Earth's upper atmosphere, studying structures seen near the equator. The SWARM-EX mission uniquely fosters opportunities for STEM education and enables a platform for public outreach. SWARM-EX will establish the first Intercollegiate CubeSat Mentoring Program - partnering institutions that have established CubeSat programs with new programs to create long-term, project-based learning environments across the nation. Teaching, training, and learning will also be advanced through the inclusion of multiple graduate students, and undergraduate students from the six geographically distributed university programs involved in SWARM-EX. This project resulted from the Ideas Lab: Cross-cutting Initiative in CubeSat Innovations, an interdisciplinary program supported by Geosciences, Engineering, and Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorates.SWARM-EX is a bold step towards addressing outstanding aeronomy questions achieved through a global constellation of CubeSat swarms making in-situ ionospheric and thermospheric measurements between 300 and 600 km altitude. The CubeSats in each swarm will range in separation from 1 to 1000 km and this separation will be controlled by a combination of differential drag and onboard propulsion. A pathfinder mission, supported by this project will use 3 identical CubeSats to demonstrate the SWARM-EX key technologies and address scientific questions related to the evolution of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) and equatorial thermospheric anomaly (ETA). The specific aeronomy questions are 1) How persistent and correlated are the plasma density and neutral oxygen in EIA and ETA features?; 2) Over what timescales, less than 90 minutes, do we observe changes in EIA/ETA properties due to non-migrating tides and geomagnetic activity? These CubeSats will demonstrate novel technology including RF cross-links, propulsion, CDMA X-band data downlinks and on-board autonomy. Additionally, each CubeSat will include an atomic oxygen sensor and Langmuir Probe thus making the measurements required to answer the proposed science questions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.