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）资助的。该项目是波士顿大学和蒙大拿州立大学的空间科学家和工程师之间的合作项目。 这个为期三年的跨学科团队的目标是建造和运行一套小型的所谓立方体卫星航天器。每颗卫星将携带一个大几何因子的固态探测器，对辐射带沉淀的电子敏感。 火鸟使命（相对论性电子暴强度、范围和动力学集中研究）是一项有针对性、有目标的空间气象立方体卫星使命，目的是解决货车艾伦辐射带中电子微暴的空间尺度大小和能量依赖性。相对论性电子微暴流是由低空航天器上的粒子探测器测量到的短时间的强烈电子沉淀，当它们的轨道穿过穿过外辐射带的磁场线时可以看到。虽然微暴流被认为是相对论性电子的一个重要损失机制，但人们对它们的了解仍然很少，从而使地球的空间天气模型？辐射带不完整。火鸟？美国宇航局独特的两点低高度聚焦观测充分利用了立方体卫星平台的能力，将回答三个具有空间天气影响的基本科学问题：单个微暴流的空间尺度大小是多少？单个微下击暴流的能量依赖性是什么？微暴流在全球范围内产生的辐射带电子损失总量是多少？除了涉及基础空间物理学研究和空间气象应用外，“火鸟”项目的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，同时由每个专家领域的专业人士指导。其影响是，这项调查的成果将持续多年，如果不是几十年，作为20多名学生谁？他们的牙齿？在这个科学使命中成为实践科学家和工程师。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。此外，该项目将是执行多航天器CubeSat使命的前两个项目之一，从而推动了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.