Introduction to the COSPAR Small Satellite Space Weather Constellation: Mission Objectives, Design, and Implementation
Résumé
The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) in 2020 established a new Task Group to develop an "actionable" plan for an international constellation of small satellites. COSPAR will play the role of an honest broker in assembling an international consortium that will develop, launch, and acquire data from a constellation of small satellites contributed from voluntary participants. The COSPAR team, known formally as the Task Group on establishing a Constellation of Small Satellites (TGCSS), identified space weather monitoring from a constellation of LEO small satellites as one of its primary objectives from the constellation. TGCSS will facilitate development of mission concepts, constellation architecture, coordinate launch opportunities, as well as reference payloads and supporting ground facilities. The preliminary scientific objectives focus on measuring plasma conditions in the ionosphere, and atmospheric drag with sufficient measurement density to substantially improve space weather forecasts. In this presentation, we will report on the presently defined mission objectives and constellation design, as well as plans on implementation. It is hoped that through collaboration with the scientific community, the COSPAR constellation will help to address pertinent scientific objectives, while also serving as a platform for capacity building and international collaboration.