Small Satellites for Next Generation Space Weather Measurements

NASA Heliophysics Living With a Star program focuses on the science necessary to understand aspects of the Sun and Earth`s space environment that affect life and society. The goal is to provide the comprehensive research needed to understand the many factors affecting the Sun-Earth system and thus provide the information necessary for improved forecasting of space weather. In the past, in situ heliophysics observations have been obtained from flagship missions carrying comprehensive instrument suites and significant budgets; however, these high-cost missions still supply only localized measurement sets that are difficult to use to characterize the global response of the system. Because of this, the promise of small satellites as an affordable option for in situ measurements of relevant space plasma parameters makes these platforms an ideal candidate to obtain the outstanding observations necessary to advance space weather operations. The near-Earth vicinity of the Deep Space Gateway (DSG) could represent the first step in formulation of the next-generation space weather system concept, potentially providing a broad range of infrastructure (e.g., telemetry, launch capabilities) to enable a paradigm-shifting, more systemic approach to how space-based measurements are made. The location is ideal to launch small satellites (< 6U) that carry both remote sensing and in-situ sensors to cover the near-Earth environment from the magnetosphere to upstream of the Earth’s bow shock. In addition, the DSG can also provide a data relay function to pass real-time space weather measurement down to Earth or the Orion crew.