CICERO-X: Cubesat System for GNSS Radio Occultation and Ocean Reflections

Signals from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are proving of great value in sensing the atmosphere and Earth for weather forecasting, space weather and global climate monitoring. Here we address two key GNSS measurement types: atmospheric radio occultation (GNSS-RO) and reflections from oceans, ice, snow and land (GNSS-R). GeoOptics is now enhancing its operational 6U CICERO cubesat design to improve RO performance and collect high-quality GNSS-R data while maintaining its 6U form factor and low overall system cost. These enhancements address six of the 11 SBEM data gaps and three other Air Force areas of interest: GNSS-RO: Ionospheric density and scintillation, tropical cyclone intensity, global precipitation monitoring, tropospheric sensing and profiling, and vertical temperature and moisture profiles. GNSS-R: Ocean surface vector winds, soil moisture, and sea ice characterization. This proposal focuses on four specific system improvements: 1. Doubling the science antenna to 4x3 elements to match the gain of COSMIC-2; 2. Providing 1D antenna beam steering identical to that on COSMIC-2; 3. Introducing a GNSS-R function superior to that on NASA’s CYGNSS; 4. Adding dual polarization to enhance GNSS-R and sense heavy precipitation with GNSS-RO.