MagneToRE: Mapping the 3-D Magnetic Structure of the Solar Wind Using a Large Constellation of Nanosatellites

Maruca, Bennett A., Agudelo Rueda, Jeffersson A., Bandyopadhyay, Riddhi, Bianco, Federica B., Chasapis, Alexandros, Chhiber, Rohit, DeWeese, Haley, Matthaeus, William H., Miles, David M., Qudsi, Ramiz A., Richardson, Michael J., Servidio, Sergio, Shay, Michael A., Sundkvist, David, Verscharen, Daniel, Vines, Sarah K., Westlake, Joseph H. and Wicks, Robert (2021) MagneToRE: Mapping the 3-D Magnetic Structure of the Solar Wind Using a Large Constellation of Nanosatellites. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, 8. p. 665885. ISSN 2296-987X

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2021.665885

Abstract

Unlike the vast majority of astrophysical plasmas, the solar wind is accessible to spacecraft, which for decades have carried in-situ instruments for directly measuring its particles and fields. Though such measurements provide precise and detailed information, a single spacecraft on its own cannot disentangle spatial and temporal fluctuations. Even a modest constellation of in-situ spacecraft, though capable of characterizing fluctuations at one or more scales, cannot fully determine the plasma’s 3-D structure. We describe here a concept for a new mission, the Magnetic Topology Reconstruction Explorer (MagneToRE), that would comprise a large constellation of in-situ spacecraft and would, for the first time, enable 3-D maps to be reconstructed of the solar wind’s dynamic magnetic structure. Each of these nanosatellites would be based on the CubeSat form-factor and carry a compact fluxgate magnetometer. A larger spacecraft would deploy these smaller ones and also serve as their telemetry link to the ground and as a host for ancillary scientific instruments. Such an ambitious mission would be feasible under typical funding constraints thanks to advances in the miniaturization of spacecraft and instruments and breakthroughs in data science and machine learning.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding information: BAM and RAQ are partially supported by NSF Award Number 1931435. JAAR is supported by the European Space Agency’s Networking/Partnership Initiative (NPI) programme and the Colombian programme Pasaporte a la Ciencia, Foco Sociedad - Reto 3 (Educación de calidad desde la ciencie, la tecnología y la innovación (CTel)), ICETEX. RB is partially supported by NASA award 80NSSC21K0739. RC and WHM are supported by NASA HSR grant 80NSSC18K1648. DMM is supported by NASA under grants and contracts 80NSSC19K0491, 80GSFC18C0008, 80NSSC18K1293, and 80NSSC20K1842. SS is supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 776262 (AIDA, www.aida-space.eu). DS is supported by NASA award 80NSSC17K0032. SKV is supported by NASA contract NNG04EB99C and by NSF grants ATM-0739864 and ATM-1420184. DV is supported by STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship ST/P003826/1 and STFC Consolidated Grant ST/S000240/1. RTW is supported by STFC Consolidated Grant ST/V006320/1.
Uncontrolled Keywords: turbulence, space plasma, solar wind, interplanetary magnetic field, magnetometer, nanosatellite, CubeSat
Subjects: F300 Physics
F500 Astronomy
Department: Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering
Depositing User: Rachel Branson
Date Deposited: 03 Aug 2021 15:23
Last Modified: 05 Nov 2021 17:15
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/46839

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