Session
Technical Session III: Science & Exploration
Abstract
Montana State University's Space Science and Engineering Laboratory (SSEL) under support from the Montana NASA Space Grant Consortium is engaged in an earth orbiting satellite student project that will carry a reproduction, using current-day technology, of the scientific payload flown on the United States' first satellite, Explorer-1, February 1, 1958. The Montana EaRth Orbiting Pico Explorer (MEROPE) will carry a single Geiger counter into a 600 km, sun-synchronous polar orbit to measure the corpuscular radiation that characterizes the Van Allen Radiation Belts, first measured by Professor James Van Allen's group with Explorer-1. In contrast to Explorer-1's 14 kg mass, MEROPE, a CubeSat-class satellite, will have a total mass of 1 kg in a cubic volume of 1 liter. The payload will be operated primarily during transits of the earth's radiation belts, where the instrument will also detect the higher energy portion of the electron spectrum responsible for the production of the Aurora Borealis. This paper describes MEROPE's scientific objectives and the miniature Geiger Tube payload designed to carry out those objectives as well as the student designed and built MEROPE satellite bus and project management. An introduction to the CubeSat program and a discussion of their future uses is included.
The Montana State University NASA Space Grant Explorer-1 Science Reflight Commemorative Mission
Montana State University's Space Science and Engineering Laboratory (SSEL) under support from the Montana NASA Space Grant Consortium is engaged in an earth orbiting satellite student project that will carry a reproduction, using current-day technology, of the scientific payload flown on the United States' first satellite, Explorer-1, February 1, 1958. The Montana EaRth Orbiting Pico Explorer (MEROPE) will carry a single Geiger counter into a 600 km, sun-synchronous polar orbit to measure the corpuscular radiation that characterizes the Van Allen Radiation Belts, first measured by Professor James Van Allen's group with Explorer-1. In contrast to Explorer-1's 14 kg mass, MEROPE, a CubeSat-class satellite, will have a total mass of 1 kg in a cubic volume of 1 liter. The payload will be operated primarily during transits of the earth's radiation belts, where the instrument will also detect the higher energy portion of the electron spectrum responsible for the production of the Aurora Borealis. This paper describes MEROPE's scientific objectives and the miniature Geiger Tube payload designed to carry out those objectives as well as the student designed and built MEROPE satellite bus and project management. An introduction to the CubeSat program and a discussion of their future uses is included.
