| NSF Org: |
AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 14, 2019 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 14, 2021 |
| Award Number: | 1936518 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Mangala Sharma
msharma@nsf.gov (703)292-4773 AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | January 1, 2020 |
| End Date: | March 31, 2025 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $224,468.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $224,468.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2020 = $56,030.00 FY 2021 = $112,162.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1903 W MICHIGAN AVE KALAMAZOO MI US 49008-5200 (269)387-8298 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1903 W. Michigan Avenue Kalamazoo MI US 49008-5343 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
AGS-ATM & Geospace Sciences, Space Weather Research |
| Primary Program Source: |
01002122DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002021DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001920DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
CubeSats are miniaturized, low-weight, low-cost satellites. Due to these properties, constellations of 10s-100s of CubeSats with specialized instruments for studying the space environment provide a new exciting opportunity to understand and predict space weather. The Space Weather Atmospheric Reconfigurable Multiscale Experiment (SWARM-EX) project provides an important step in the advancement of designing and building CubeSat constellations for space weather. SWARM-EX will consist of three identical CubeSats with novel technologies for radio communications between satellites, onboard propulsion, advanced data downlinks, and autonomous operations within the constellation. Each satellite will measure ionized and neutral gases in the Earth's upper atmosphere, studying structures seen near the equator. The SWARM-EX mission uniquely fosters opportunities for STEM education and enables a platform for public outreach. SWARM-EX will establish the first Intercollegiate CubeSat Mentoring Program - partnering institutions that have established CubeSat programs with new programs to create long-term, project-based learning environments across the nation. Teaching, training, and learning will also be advanced through the inclusion of multiple graduate students, and undergraduate students from the six geographically distributed university programs involved in SWARM-EX. This project resulted from the Ideas Lab: Cross-cutting Initiative in CubeSat Innovations, an interdisciplinary program supported by Geosciences, Engineering, and Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorates.
SWARM-EX is a bold step towards addressing outstanding aeronomy questions achieved through a global constellation of CubeSat swarms making in-situ ionospheric and thermospheric measurements between 300 and 600 km altitude. The CubeSats in each swarm will range in separation from 1 to 1000 km and this separation will be controlled by a combination of differential drag and onboard propulsion. A pathfinder mission, supported by this project will use 3 identical CubeSats to demonstrate the SWARM-EX key technologies and address scientific questions related to the evolution of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) and equatorial thermospheric anomaly (ETA). The specific aeronomy questions are 1) How persistent and correlated are the plasma density and neutral oxygen in EIA and ETA features?; 2) Over what timescales, less than 90 minutes, do we observe changes in EIA/ETA properties due to non-migrating tides and geomagnetic activity? These CubeSats will demonstrate novel technology including RF cross-links, propulsion, CDMA X-band data downlinks and on-board autonomy. Additionally, each CubeSat will include an atomic oxygen sensor and Langmuir Probe thus making the measurements required to answer the proposed science questions.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The Collaborative Research: CubeSat Ideas Lab: Space Weather Atmospheric Reconfigurable Multiscale Experiment (SWARM-EX) CubeSats is a multi-univeristy program to design, build, launch, and perform in-orbit operations of a swarm of three CubeSats with propulsion systems. The role of Western Michigan University (WMU) was to choose the propulsion system, create the requirements verification matrix for the propulsion subsystem in collaboration with the other spacecraft subsystems, work with the manufacturer to ensure timely delivery of the product that met all requirements, test the system upon receipt to ensure it meets performance requirements, and deliver the final product to University of Colorado where they the propulsion moduls are to be integrated into the full spacecraft. Three propulsion units were developed. One was shipped to WMU, where acceptance and performance testing was completed. Thrust was measured on a thrust stand and compared with results from the vendor. The values matched to within error margins of the thrust stands. All valves were checked for operation and the thermal monitoring was also checked.
Additionally, WMU was responsible for many of broader impacts of the work, including moderating a Slack Channel where members can ask questions about CubeSat technology, development of surveys for members of the SWARM-EX team, and analysis of those surveys.
Last Modified: 05/06/2025
Modified by: Kristina Lemmer
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