Multichannel Thermosphere Ionosphere Photometer Scanner (MTIPS)

As a community, we are at a Tipping Point, where the needs and capabilities of different players have become aligned as follows: the development of small satellites, miniaturized instruments, and electronics is aligned with NASA mission needs, together with computational and algorithmic capabilities to handle large amounts of ionospheric/thermospheric data to produce a mission-applicable product. In this Phase I SBIR proposal for Topic S1.12: Remote Sensing Instrument Technologies for Heliophysics, we describe our research plan to design a CubeSat-compatible instrument for imaging the ionosphere and thermosphere in ultraviolet light. The purpose of this imaging is to derive several key ionospheric environmental parameters (including electron density and ionospheric irregularities) and thermospheric composition (column O/N2).nbsp; Images of the irregularities or ldquo;bubblesrdquo; are more useful than a single line measurement (or 1-D cut) through the same bubble feature because an image permits the geographic extent of the irregularity and its motion to be deduced. The proposed instrument, called Multichannel Thermosphere and Ionosphere Photometer Scanner (MTIPS), will allow us to image the ionospheric and column O/N2 densities to gain valuable insights into the solar and magnetospheric forcing of our space environment. The MTIPS design will be flexible in its ability to accomplish the mission science objectives over a range of expected NASA-sponsored LEO CubeSat launch opportunities. The proposed research will establish the feasibility of CubeSats for UV remote sensing and develop a conceptual design of the MTIP payload.