The Auroral Acceleration Region (AAR) is a key region in understanding the interactionbetween the Magnetosphere and Ionosphere. To understand the physical, spatial, and temporal features of the region, multi-point measurements are required. Distributed small-satellite missions such as constellations of multiple nano satellites (for example multi-unit CubeSats) would enable such type of measurements. The capabilities of such a mission will highly depend on the number of satellites - one reason that makes low-cost platforms like CubeSats a very promising choice. In a previous study, the state-of-the-art of miniaturized payloads for AAR measurements was analyzed and evaluated on the capabilities of different multi-CubeSat configurations equipped with such payloads in addressing different open questions in AAR. This thesis will provide the mission analysis of such a multi-CubeSat mission to the AAR and possible mission design. This includes defining the mission scenario and associated requirements, developing a mathematical description of AAR that allows for specific regions in space to be targeted, an optimisation process for designing orbits targeting these regions, conversion of a satellite formation to appropriate orbits, verifying the scientific performance of this formation and the various costs associated with entering, maintaining, and exiting these orbits.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:ltu-88900 |
Date | January 2021 |
Creators | Castro, Marley Santiago |
Publisher | Luleå tekniska universitet, Institutionen för system- och rymdteknik |
Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
Format | application/pdf |
Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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