Session
Weekend Session 7: Year in Review - Research & Academia
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
INSPIRESat-1 (IS-1) was the first mission under the INternational Satellite Program In Research and Education (INSPIRE) program, a consortium of universities coming together to space science missions. IS-1 launched on February 14, 2022 at 00:30 UTC to a sun synchronous dawn-dusk orbit onboard the Indian Space Research Organization's PSLV C52 mission. The IS-1 spacecraft was primarily developed at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado with significant contributions from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), NCU of Taiwan and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. The IS-1 carries two scientific instruments: The Compact Ionospheric Probe (CIP) developed at National Central University (NCU) for studying Earth's dynamic ionosphere and the NASA funded Dual-zone Aperture X-ray Solar Spectrometer (DAXSS) developed at LASP for studying the highly-variable solar X-ray radiation. DAXSS is a follow on from the highly successful MinXSS 1 &2 missions. First contact was established with the spacecraft 45 minutes after launch. The first science instruments were turned on by February 27th. DAXSS has now observed multiple solar flares in the current increasing phase of solar cycle 25 for a period of 16 months. In this paper we will present details on spacecraft performance in a unique dawn dusk orbit which presents thermal challenges not encountered frequently by nano-satellite platforms. We also present preliminary science results from CIP and DAXSS instruments from a year of on-orbit operations. Operations of the Spacecraft has also been unique with multiple universities commanding and downlinking science data.
INSPIRESat-1: A Year of On-Orbit Operations
Utah State University, Logan, UT
INSPIRESat-1 (IS-1) was the first mission under the INternational Satellite Program In Research and Education (INSPIRE) program, a consortium of universities coming together to space science missions. IS-1 launched on February 14, 2022 at 00:30 UTC to a sun synchronous dawn-dusk orbit onboard the Indian Space Research Organization's PSLV C52 mission. The IS-1 spacecraft was primarily developed at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado with significant contributions from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), NCU of Taiwan and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. The IS-1 carries two scientific instruments: The Compact Ionospheric Probe (CIP) developed at National Central University (NCU) for studying Earth's dynamic ionosphere and the NASA funded Dual-zone Aperture X-ray Solar Spectrometer (DAXSS) developed at LASP for studying the highly-variable solar X-ray radiation. DAXSS is a follow on from the highly successful MinXSS 1 &2 missions. First contact was established with the spacecraft 45 minutes after launch. The first science instruments were turned on by February 27th. DAXSS has now observed multiple solar flares in the current increasing phase of solar cycle 25 for a period of 16 months. In this paper we will present details on spacecraft performance in a unique dawn dusk orbit which presents thermal challenges not encountered frequently by nano-satellite platforms. We also present preliminary science results from CIP and DAXSS instruments from a year of on-orbit operations. Operations of the Spacecraft has also been unique with multiple universities commanding and downlinking science data.
