Development of a Compact Sensor for in-situ Thermospheric Neutral Wind Measurements from a CubeSat

Knowledge of the thermospheric neutral wind remains perhaps the most elusive and yet most important parameter to understanding the complex feedback interactions that take place in the near space environment of the Earth. The lack of understanding of the interactions between the neutral atmosphere and ionosphere currently hampers efforts to predict Earth’s daily ionospheric and thermospheric conditions. Measurement of the vector neutral wind can be accomplished from space using remote sensing optical imaging or in-situ techniques. The development of a small CubeSat payload for the measurement of in-situ neutral wind vector would be a significant step forward in the investigative capabilities focused on ion-neutral coupling in the atmosphere and in the generation of neutral wind driven current systems that dominate the dynamics of the low and middle latitude ionosphere. ASTRA and University of Texas Dallas (UTD) team propose to construct an analyzer system and a robust detector system for measuring the in-situ neutral wind vector called the Neutral Wind Sensor (NWS). Our ultimate objective is to produce a flight instrument design occupying 2U in a typical 6U CubeSat configuration.