Achievements and Lessons Learned From Successful Small Satellite Missions for Space Weather‐Oriented Research
Abstract When the first CubeSats were launched nearly two decades ago, few people believed that the miniature satellites would likely prove to be a useful scientific tool. Skeptics abounded. However, the last decade has seen the highly successful implementation of space missions that make creative a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Space Weather |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021SW003031 |
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| author | Harlan E. Spence Amir Caspi Hasan Bahcivan Jesus Nieves‐Chinchilla Geoff Crowley James Cutler Chad Fish David Jackson Therese Moretto Jorgensen David Klumpar Xinlin Li James P. Mason Nick Paschalidis John Sample Sonya Smith Charles M. Swenson Thomas N. Woods |
| author_facet | Harlan E. Spence Amir Caspi Hasan Bahcivan Jesus Nieves‐Chinchilla Geoff Crowley James Cutler Chad Fish David Jackson Therese Moretto Jorgensen David Klumpar Xinlin Li James P. Mason Nick Paschalidis John Sample Sonya Smith Charles M. Swenson Thomas N. Woods |
| author_sort | Harlan E. Spence |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract When the first CubeSats were launched nearly two decades ago, few people believed that the miniature satellites would likely prove to be a useful scientific tool. Skeptics abounded. However, the last decade has seen the highly successful implementation of space missions that make creative and innovative use of fast‐advancing CubeSat and small satellite technology to carry out important science experiments and missions. Several projects now have used CubeSats to obtain first‐of‐their‐kind observations and findings that have formed the basis for high‐profile engineering and science publications, thereby establishing without doubt the scientific value and broad utility of CubeSats. In this paper, we describe recent achievements and lessons learned from a representative selection of successful CubeSat missions with a space weather focus. We conclude that these missions were successful in part because their limited resources promoted not only mission focus but also appropriate risk‐taking for comparatively high science return. Quantitative analysis of refereed publications from these CubeSat missions and several larger missions reveals that mission outcome metrics compare favorably when publication number is normalized by mission cost or if expressed as a weighted net scientific impact of all mission publications. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b6f37fe9aef940eab5fed9e0a0a5e4e6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1542-7390 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Space Weather |
| spelling | doaj-art-b6f37fe9aef940eab5fed9e0a0a5e4e62025-01-14T16:26:58ZengWileySpace Weather1542-73902022-07-01207n/an/a10.1029/2021SW003031Achievements and Lessons Learned From Successful Small Satellite Missions for Space Weather‐Oriented ResearchHarlan E. Spence0Amir Caspi1Hasan Bahcivan2Jesus Nieves‐Chinchilla3Geoff Crowley4James Cutler5Chad Fish6David Jackson7Therese Moretto Jorgensen8David Klumpar9Xinlin Li10James P. Mason11Nick Paschalidis12John Sample13Sonya Smith14Charles M. Swenson15Thomas N. Woods16Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space University of New Hampshire Durham NH USASouthwest Research Institute Boulder CO USASRI International Menlo Park CA USATechnical University of Madrid Madrid SpainAtmospheric & Space Technology Research Associates (ASTRA) LLC Boulder CO USAUniversity of Michigan Ann Arbor MI USAAtmospheric & Space Technology Research Associates (ASTRA) LLC Boulder CO USAUK Met Office Exeter UKNASA Ames Research Center Mountain View CA USAMontana State University Bozeman MT USALaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado Boulder CO USALaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado Boulder CO USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USAMontana State University Bozeman MT USAInstitute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space University of New Hampshire Durham NH USAUtah State University Logan UT USALaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado Boulder CO USAAbstract When the first CubeSats were launched nearly two decades ago, few people believed that the miniature satellites would likely prove to be a useful scientific tool. Skeptics abounded. However, the last decade has seen the highly successful implementation of space missions that make creative and innovative use of fast‐advancing CubeSat and small satellite technology to carry out important science experiments and missions. Several projects now have used CubeSats to obtain first‐of‐their‐kind observations and findings that have formed the basis for high‐profile engineering and science publications, thereby establishing without doubt the scientific value and broad utility of CubeSats. In this paper, we describe recent achievements and lessons learned from a representative selection of successful CubeSat missions with a space weather focus. We conclude that these missions were successful in part because their limited resources promoted not only mission focus but also appropriate risk‐taking for comparatively high science return. Quantitative analysis of refereed publications from these CubeSat missions and several larger missions reveals that mission outcome metrics compare favorably when publication number is normalized by mission cost or if expressed as a weighted net scientific impact of all mission publications.https://doi.org/10.1029/2021SW003031CubeSatsmallsatspace weather |
| spellingShingle | Harlan E. Spence Amir Caspi Hasan Bahcivan Jesus Nieves‐Chinchilla Geoff Crowley James Cutler Chad Fish David Jackson Therese Moretto Jorgensen David Klumpar Xinlin Li James P. Mason Nick Paschalidis John Sample Sonya Smith Charles M. Swenson Thomas N. Woods Achievements and Lessons Learned From Successful Small Satellite Missions for Space Weather‐Oriented Research Space Weather CubeSat smallsat space weather |
| title | Achievements and Lessons Learned From Successful Small Satellite Missions for Space Weather‐Oriented Research |
| title_full | Achievements and Lessons Learned From Successful Small Satellite Missions for Space Weather‐Oriented Research |
| title_fullStr | Achievements and Lessons Learned From Successful Small Satellite Missions for Space Weather‐Oriented Research |
| title_full_unstemmed | Achievements and Lessons Learned From Successful Small Satellite Missions for Space Weather‐Oriented Research |
| title_short | Achievements and Lessons Learned From Successful Small Satellite Missions for Space Weather‐Oriented Research |
| title_sort | achievements and lessons learned from successful small satellite missions for space weather oriented research |
| topic | CubeSat smallsat space weather |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021SW003031 |
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