Lunar magnetic field measurements with a cubesat
We have developed a mission concept that uses 3-unit cubesats to perform new measurements of lunar magnetic fields, less than 100 meters above the Moon’s surface. The mission calls for sending the cubesats on impact trajectories to strongly magnetic regions on the surface, and transmitting measureme...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
SPIE
2013
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/81473 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6063-3227 |
| _version_ | 1811068988229156864 |
|---|---|
| author | Garrick-Bethell, Ian Lin, Robert P. Sanchez, Hugo Jaroux, Belgacem A. Bester, Manfred Brown, Patrick Cosgrove, Daniel Dougherty, Michele K. Halekas, Jasper S. Hemingway, Doug Lozano, Paulo C. Martel, Francois Whitlock, Caleb Wade |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Garrick-Bethell, Ian Lin, Robert P. Sanchez, Hugo Jaroux, Belgacem A. Bester, Manfred Brown, Patrick Cosgrove, Daniel Dougherty, Michele K. Halekas, Jasper S. Hemingway, Doug Lozano, Paulo C. Martel, Francois Whitlock, Caleb Wade |
| author_sort | Garrick-Bethell, Ian |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We have developed a mission concept that uses 3-unit cubesats to perform new measurements of lunar magnetic fields, less than 100 meters above the Moon’s surface. The mission calls for sending the cubesats on impact trajectories to strongly magnetic regions on the surface, and transmitting measurements in real-time to a nearby spacecraft, or directly to the Earth, up until milliseconds before impact. The cubesats and their instruments are partly based on the NSF-funded CINEMA cubesat now in Earth orbit. Two methods of reaching the Moon as a secondary payload are discussed: 1) After launching into geostationary transfer orbit with a communication satellite, a small mother-ship travels into lunar orbit and releases the cubesats on impact trajectories, and 2) The cubesats travel to the Moon using their own propulsion after release into geosynchronous orbit. This latter version would also enable other near-Earth missions, such as constellations for studying magnetospheric processes, and observations of close-approaching asteroids. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:03:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/81473 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:03:55Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | SPIE |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/814732022-09-23T10:37:26Z Lunar magnetic field measurements with a cubesat Garrick-Bethell, Ian Lin, Robert P. Sanchez, Hugo Jaroux, Belgacem A. Bester, Manfred Brown, Patrick Cosgrove, Daniel Dougherty, Michele K. Halekas, Jasper S. Hemingway, Doug Lozano, Paulo C. Martel, Francois Whitlock, Caleb Wade Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Lozano, Paulo C. Whitlock, Caleb Wade We have developed a mission concept that uses 3-unit cubesats to perform new measurements of lunar magnetic fields, less than 100 meters above the Moon’s surface. The mission calls for sending the cubesats on impact trajectories to strongly magnetic regions on the surface, and transmitting measurements in real-time to a nearby spacecraft, or directly to the Earth, up until milliseconds before impact. The cubesats and their instruments are partly based on the NSF-funded CINEMA cubesat now in Earth orbit. Two methods of reaching the Moon as a secondary payload are discussed: 1) After launching into geostationary transfer orbit with a communication satellite, a small mother-ship travels into lunar orbit and releases the cubesats on impact trajectories, and 2) The cubesats travel to the Moon using their own propulsion after release into geosynchronous orbit. This latter version would also enable other near-Earth missions, such as constellations for studying magnetospheric processes, and observations of close-approaching asteroids. 2013-10-23T12:32:55Z 2013-10-23T12:32:55Z 2013-05 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/ConferencePaper 0277-786X http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/81473 Garrick-Bethell, Ian, Robert P. Lin, Hugo Sanchez, Belgacem A. Jaroux, Manfred Bester, Patrick Brown, Daniel Cosgrove, et al. “Lunar magnetic field measurements with a cubesat.” In Sensors and Systems for Space Applications VI, edited by Khanh D. Pham, Joseph L. Cox, Richard T. Howard, and Genshe Chen, 873903-873903-26. SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering, 2013. © 2013 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6063-3227 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2015666 Proceedings of SPIE--the International Society for Optical Engineering Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ application/pdf SPIE SPIE |
| spellingShingle | Garrick-Bethell, Ian Lin, Robert P. Sanchez, Hugo Jaroux, Belgacem A. Bester, Manfred Brown, Patrick Cosgrove, Daniel Dougherty, Michele K. Halekas, Jasper S. Hemingway, Doug Lozano, Paulo C. Martel, Francois Whitlock, Caleb Wade Lunar magnetic field measurements with a cubesat |
| title | Lunar magnetic field measurements with a cubesat |
| title_full | Lunar magnetic field measurements with a cubesat |
| title_fullStr | Lunar magnetic field measurements with a cubesat |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lunar magnetic field measurements with a cubesat |
| title_short | Lunar magnetic field measurements with a cubesat |
| title_sort | lunar magnetic field measurements with a cubesat |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/81473 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6063-3227 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT garrickbethellian lunarmagneticfieldmeasurementswithacubesat AT linrobertp lunarmagneticfieldmeasurementswithacubesat AT sanchezhugo lunarmagneticfieldmeasurementswithacubesat AT jarouxbelgacema lunarmagneticfieldmeasurementswithacubesat AT bestermanfred lunarmagneticfieldmeasurementswithacubesat AT brownpatrick lunarmagneticfieldmeasurementswithacubesat AT cosgrovedaniel lunarmagneticfieldmeasurementswithacubesat AT doughertymichelek lunarmagneticfieldmeasurementswithacubesat AT halekasjaspers lunarmagneticfieldmeasurementswithacubesat AT hemingwaydoug lunarmagneticfieldmeasurementswithacubesat AT lozanopauloc lunarmagneticfieldmeasurementswithacubesat AT martelfrancois lunarmagneticfieldmeasurementswithacubesat AT whitlockcalebwade lunarmagneticfieldmeasurementswithacubesat |