Development of platform-independent plasma probe for cubesats
Abstract
The historic technology of Langmuir probe has been utilized as in-situ plasma instruments in space to measure basic ionospheric parameters onboard the sounding rockets and satellites of various size and mass. Nowadays, with the advent of 'New Space Era', more and more opportunities of space access with reduced cost by virtue of reusable rocket and low-mass satellite. While it is very important to measure the ionospheric conditions with widely-spread constellation of small satellites, especially cubesats. The DC-type Langmuir probe technique requires large satellite surface area compared with probe surface itself and can be seriously affected by the surface contamination so that the inter-satellite calibration is not feasible with current technologies. By applying frequency-varying signals to an antenna-shaped conductor, it is possible to measure the proper resonance-frequency of the plasma which is not depend on the probe geometry. However, the performance of impedance probe for small satellite is sensitive to the antenna (probe) geometry and electronics design, making it difficult to applying the impedance probe technology directly to the cubesat. Throughout this study, it is expected to propose a platform-independent plasma instrument for the many cubesat-developing groups who considers the ionospheric observation as one of their scientific goals.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 21, 2022
- Source ID
- FA23862114038XX0
Entities
People
- Kwangsun Ryu
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- KAIST
- United States Air Force