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LAICE Overview

Lower Atmosphere/Ionosphere Coupling Experiment (LAICE) Dr. Greg Earle, Stephen Noel, Dr. Gary Swenson,

Dr. Alex Ghosh, Dr. John Black

2 December 2015Space@VT Center

1901 Innovation Dr., Blacksburg, VA 24061

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LAICE TeamName Institution Role

Dr. Greg Earle Virginia Tech PI

Dr. Gary Swenson University of Illinois Co-I

Dr. Alex Ghosh University of Illinois Bus Lead

Stephen Noel Virginia Tech VT Payload Lead

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Team Organization

University of Illinois•Bus structure•C&DH•Radio & antenna•ADACS•Power system•Photometer payload

Virginia Tech • In-situ instruments• RPA• SNeuPI • LINAS

•VT payload communication and power regulation board (LIIB)

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Mission Overview

• NSF-funded CubeSat 6U (approximately 30x20x10 cm)• Low-cost, high-risk • Graduate and undergraduate students • Provides hands-on experience to over 60 students at UIUC and VT

• Selected by NASA ElaNa program for launch opportunity• Will be deployed off ISS via Nanoracks system• Tentative launch date August 2016

• Three in-situ instruments and a suite of optical instruments (photometers)• UIUC-designed magnetic torque coils for attitude control

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Mission Overview (cont.)

• CadetU UHF radio• Operates in government regulated UHF band• 445 - 455 MHz uplink• 460 – 470 MHz downlink• Will use existing communications infrastructure at Wallops Flight Facility and

USU/SDL (used in DICE CubeSat mission)

• Power system• 4 Li-Ion 18650 batteries in 2 series, 2 parallel arrangement

• 7.4V nominal total voltage of battery pack• 5200 mAh nominal total capacity of battery pack• Maximum power point tracking with UIUC power board

• Azure Space 30% efficient solar cells• Total solar cell area of 241.44 cm^2

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Satellite Overview

 

+Z, Velocity

+Y, Zenith

+X

Photometer Payload

RPA

LINAS &SNeuPIAperture

RPAPhotometer Payload

LINAS & SNeuPI Aperture

VT Payload

Li-Ion Batteries

AntennaBus Electronics

SPS release mechanism

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Current TimelineDeadline Description

2015December All hardware finished with subsystem level

testing2016

January Final modifications to hardware systemsFebruary Delivery of payloads to bus integration siteApril-May Completion of bus-payload integration and all

lab functional testingJune Completion of primary environmental testing

campaignJune-August Repeat testing and address minor redesign

issuesAugust Delivery of bus to launch provider

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Mission Science DriversData from DE-2 (1981) shows evidence of gravity waves in both the neutral and ionized components of the atmosphere at LEO altitudes.

A primary objective of the LAICE mission is to globally map such active wave regions, and to correlate waves measured in-situ with mesospheric airglow wave measurements.

The in-situ instruments must therefore measure density fluctuations in both the ion and neutral gases, with spatial resolution that allows wavelengths of several hundred km to be resolved.

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Science Traceability MatrixMeasurement Requirements Instrument Requirements Mission Requirements1. Measure neutral pressure fluctuations with 20 km spatial resolution to study gravity wave signatures in the lower thermosphere.

Neutral Gas InstrumentsDynamic range: 10-8 to 10-4 TorrTemporal Resolution: < 2.5 sCurrent range: 100 pA to 50 mASensitivity: 50 pA

6U S/C with 3-axis stabilization S/C velocity aligned with normal to RPA aperture plane to within ±10° Photometer array aligned with nadir to within ±10° S/C angular pitch, yaw, roll rates < 0.05°/sec S/C pointing knowledge to within ±5° S/C inclination ranging from 40-60° S/C initial orbit altitude between 350-450 km Downlink ~100 Mbits/day Lifetime > 6 months

2. Measure thermal characteristics of the ion plasma with 20 km spatial resolution to identify coupling regions, and correlate ion and neutral fluctuations due to waves.

Plasma RPA InstrumentDynamic range: 1000 to 5x106 ions/cm3, 50 Kelvin, 10% for light/heavy ion composition ratio, 10 m/s for ion velocityTemporal Resolution: < 2.0 s/sweepCurrent range: 500 pA to 5 ASensitivity: 1000 ions/cm3, 50 K, 10% ion composition, 10 m/s

3. Measure nighttime airglow brightness variations corresponding to wave signatures in the upper mesosphere with 10 km spatial resolution to identify wave amplitudes, orientation, horizontal and vertical wavelengths.

Photometer ArrayDynamic range: 0.1-20kR (O2 A, HI channels), up to 100kR (O2 bg channel)Temporal Resolution: <1.3 sec ITSpatial Resolution: <15km dia. footprintSensitivity: >50 S/N (O2 A, HI channels)

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