| Issue |
J. Space Weather Space Clim.
Volume 11, 2021
Topical Issue - Space Weather Instrumentation
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 16 | |
| Number of page(s) | 11 | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/swsc/2020066 | |
| Published online | 18 February 2021 | |
Technical Article
Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction CubeSat Experiment (CIRCE), In situ and Remote Ionospheric Sensing (IRIS) suite
1
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4 0JQ, UK
2
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, 4555 Overlook Ave, Washington, DC 20375, USA
3 Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Portsdown West, Portsdown Hill Road, Fareham PO17 6AD, UK
4
Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK
5
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
6
Surrey Satellite Technologies Limited, Tycho House, 20 Stephenson Rd, Guildford GU2 7YE, UK
7
University of Surrey, Stag Hill, University Campus, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK
8
Now at NASA Wallops Space Flight Center, Wallops Island, VA 23337, USA
9
Athena Space Ltd, Torquay, Devon TQ2 7TD, UK
* Corresponding author: gdrattrill@dstl.gov.uk
Received:
30
June
2020
Accepted:
10
November
2020
The UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is partnering with the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) on a joint mission to launch miniature sensors that will advance space weather measurement and modelling capabilities. The Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction Cubesat Experiment (CIRCE) comprises two 6U cube-satellites that will be launched into a near-polar low earth orbit (LEO), targeting 500 km altitude, in 2021. The UK contribution to CIRCE is the In situ and Remote Ionospheric Sensing (IRIS) suite, complementary to NRL sensors, and comprising three highly miniaturised payloads provided to Dstl by University College London (UCL), University of Bath, and University of Surrey/Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL). One IRIS suite will be flown on each satellite, and incorporates an ion/neutral mass spectrometer, a tri-band global positioning system (GPS) receiver for ionospheric remote sensing, and a radiation environment monitor. From the US, NRL have provided two 1U Triple Tiny Ionospheric Photometers (Tri-TIPs) on each satellite (Nicholas et al., 2019), observing the ultraviolet 135.6 nm emission of atomic oxygen at night-time to characterize the two-dimensional distribution of electrons.
Key words: ionosphere / space weather / cube-satellite
© Crown copyright (2021), DSTL (author affiliated with institutes n°1 and n°3) and © the other authors, Published by EDP Sciences 2021
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Content includes material licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence except where otherwise stated. To view this license, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk
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