NACON – A Nano-Satellite Constellation for Space Weather Monitoring

V. Lappas; J. van der Ha; S. Schwartz; C. I. Underwood; A. da Silva Curiel (2005), JBIS, 58, 19-27

Refcode: 2005.58.19

Abstract:
Space Weather has a tremendous effect not only on our day-to-day activities on Earth but also on our space assets. Communications, weather prediction, Internet, TV broadcasting and space mission planning depend heavily on ground and space infrastructure. Thus it becomes more important than ever to establish a space- based network which is capable of providing the necessary data to scientists. The data may be used to predict and analyse all types of weather phenomena, either in our atmosphere or near our planet (earth magneto-tail/ field) or in our solar system (Sun). Such a comprehensive, operational space weather network will heavily depend on the necessary science and data requirements, and of most importance in this study is to design a practical, affordable, autonomous and versatile space solution composed of multiple spacecraft. The number and configuration of these satellites is key into bringing the relevant space weather data to the end user. The paper details a new approach into defining a modular architecture composed of three-level (low, medium and high) solutions pending on the end user requirements. The goal is to design a pragmatic, innovative, versatile, low cost and complete end-to-end system for space weather monitoring with a 10-year lifetime.