CAREER: Securing the Future of Electric Field Measurements in Space Physics

空间物理界在过去十年中一直在优化粒子和磁场仪器，以便在小型航天器或立方体卫星上运行。 这使得能够用具有成本效益的硬件对空间等离子体进行更高质量的测量。 电场仪器没有实现同样的优化，这使我们用具有成本效益的航天器观察空间环境的能力存在差距。 精确的电场测量对于理解空间等离子体过程至关重要，特别是在小尺度上。 这个CAREER项目旨在缩小这一差距，并在优化电场仪器以在CubeSats上运行方面迈出重要一步。 这样做使我们能够迈向一个可以彻底观察和研究最基本物理学的未来。 教育目标是开发开源软件，让学生访问和分析数据，并让学生参与硬件飞行准备测试。 该奖项主要支持西弗吉尼亚州的一位早期职业女性教授。 在这项研究中，PI将设计一个专门利用电场双探头仪器的立方体卫星使命。 它将观测极光加速区（AAR）的等离子体动态，这是一个连接地球电离层和磁层的等离子体区域。 这一使命将解决的科学问题：1）什么是垂直的空间和时间结构的电场和磁场在AAR？ 2)AAR中电子的垂直空间和时间行为是什么？ 3)前两个问题在海拔高度上有何不同？ 我们将设计和使用电场仪器来解决这个使命的这些问题。 该设计将是优化小卫星技术电场仪器的第一步。 这将使她能够在未来寻求以具有成本效益的方式观察和研究空间物理学的许多机会，并在利用电场仪器的高级任务中提供她的专门知识。 此外，这项研究将向代表性不足的学生提供空间科学的机会，并为空间物理学的职业机会提供可能的途径。 在这项研究中，西弗吉尼亚州的项目高中学生将参加与立方体卫星设计有关的各种活动。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The space physics community has spent the last decade optimizing particle and magnetic field instruments to operate on small spacecraft or CubeSat. This enables more high-quality measurements of space plasma with cost-effective hardware. The same optimization of electric field instruments has not been achieved, leaving a gap in our ability to observe the space environment with cost-effective spacecraft. Accurate electric field measurements are crucial for understanding the space plasma processes, particularly at small scales. This CAREER project seeks to narrow this gap and take a vital step in optimizing electric field instrumentation to operate on CubeSats. Doing so allows us to step toward a future where the most fundamental physics can be thoroughly observed and studied. The educational objectives are to develop open-source software to allow students to access and analyze data, and engage students in hardware flight-readiness testing. This award mainly supports an early-career female professor in West Virginia, an EPSCoR state. In this study, the PI will design a CubeSat mission specifically utilizing electric field double probe instrumentation. It will observe plasma dynamics in the Auroral Acceleration Region (AAR), a plasma region that bridges the Earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere. This mission will address the scientific questions: 1) What is the perpendicular spatial and temporal structure of the electric and magnetic field in the AAR? 2) What is the perpendicular spatial and temporal behavior of the electrons in the AAR? 3) How do the first two questions vary in altitude? We will design and utilize the electric field instrument necessary to address these questions for this mission. This design will be the first step in optimizing electric field instrumentation for small-sat technology. This will enable the pursuit of numerous future opportunities to observe and study space physics in cost-effective ways and offer her expertise in higher-class missions that utilize electric field instruments. Additionally, this study will expose opportunities in space science to underrepresented students and provide possible gateways to career opportunities in space physics. During this study, project high school students in West Virginia will participate in various activities related to the design of the CubeSat. This will include analyzing observational data, coding, and preparing CubeSat hardware for spaceflight.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.