NanoAvionics Companions with LANL on Pioneering ESRA Area Mission
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 01, 2024
Kongsberg NanoAvionics US, a frontrunner in smallsat mission integration, has entered into a brand new partnership with Los Alamos Nationwide Laboratory (LANL), a premier U.S. science and expertise establishment, for the event of a CubeSat mission geared toward enhancing our understanding of area radiation.
The mission, designated the Experiment for Area Radiation Evaluation (ESRA), will make use of a 12U CubeSat platform-approximately the scale of a microwave oven-to perform its targets. This spacecraft is tasked with internet hosting superior charged particle sensors and important flight subsystems as a part of a broader initiative to validate and display next-generation area applied sciences.
Set to be launched right into a geosynchronous switch orbit (GTO), ESRA represents a groundbreaking effort within the research of the Earth’s dynamic radiation belts. This mission marks a major first, as no CubeSat has beforehand been utilized to watch the energetic charged particles inside these belts during times of photo voltaic most.
ESRA will function two major science payloads: a wide-field-of-view plasma spectrometer (WPS) for the measurement of ions starting from ~100 eV to 35 keV and an lively charged particle (ECP) telescope able to measuring ions from 100 keV to 200 MeV, in addition to electrons between 100 keV to 1 GeV.
Extra parts, together with a compact modular excessive voltage energy provide (HVPS), a payload flight processor (PFP), a flight software program structure, and a distributed processor module (DPM), will help these devices. The DPM, particularly, will facilitate good sensor capabilities by processing knowledge on the sensor head places.
Carlos Maldonado, the ESRA principal investigator at LANL, emphasised the importance of collaboration with the business sector, highlighting the advantages of leveraging business satellites and floor stations for the fast maturation of area applied sciences. This strategy not solely reduces danger, schedule, and value but additionally exemplifies the potential of CubeSats to contribute to scientific discovery and area climate monitoring past low-Earth orbit.
To accommodate the ESRA payloads, NanoAvionics will modify certainly one of its 12U modular buses, making certain mechanical and element compatibility. The mission shall be managed utilizing NanoAvionics’ mission management software program, which is designed to function a number of satellite tv for pc missions and is appropriate with main business floor station networks worldwide.
Zilvinas Kvedaravicius, CEO of Kongsberg NanoAvionics, expressed satisfaction within the firm’s collaboration with LANL, notably following the profitable partnership on the 12U MAMBO satellite tv for pc. The ESRA mission, he famous, just isn’t solely a testomony to the energy of this partnership but additionally a pioneering enterprise that showcases NanoAvionics’ dedication to advancing area exploration.
Associated Hyperlinks
NanoAvionics
Microsat Information and Nanosat Information at SpaceMart.com