NASA experiment using CubeSats takes delivery of space-ready SBCs
NewsMay 17, 2022
NASA JET PROPULSION LABORATORY--PASADENA, Calif. Rad-hard board maker Space Micro (San Diego, California, a Voyager Space company) delivered seven flight-level single-board computers (SBCs) to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to be used for NASA's Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE).
The SunRISE mission -- slated to launch in the 2024-2025 time frame -- is intended to collect data obtained by an array of six solar-powered Cube Sats to enable scientists to better understand how the sun generates and releases solar particle storms into space and how these storms influence the interplanetary environment.
According to information provided by JPL, the constallation of CubeSats – each about the size of a toaster oven – will will fly within 6 miles (10 kilometers) of each other above Earth's atmosphere to simultaneously observe radio images of low-frequency emission from solar activity and share them via NASA's Deep Space Network. The images from the CubeSats will make up 3D maps to pinpoint where giant particle bursts originate on the Sun, track how these bursts travel and evolve as they expand outward into space, and help JPL determine what forces initiate and accelerate these giant jets of radiation.
The CubeSat constellation will also work together to map for the first time the pattern of magnetic field lines stretching from the sun out into interplanetary space.
