RADCUBE

RADCUBE is a CubeSat In-Orbit Demonstration mission led by C3S (Hungary) under the auspices of the European Space Agency. The mission aims to form the world’s first complete and comprehensive image of the radiation environment surrounding the Earth.

Current status: Awaiting launch date.

Imperial’s involvement: Imperial will provide the magnetometer (PI Dr. Jonathan Eastwood) as part of the RAD-MAG payload led by MTA-EK (Hungary). Imperial's Principal Investigator on RADCUBE is Professor Jonathan Eastwood.

The official RADCUBE website

 

Cinema

Cinema is a three spacecraft CubeSat mission to study Space Weather by making multi-point measurements of the magnetic field and energetic ions and electrons in near-Earth space and imaging ring current particles. 

Current status: Mission complete

Imperial’s involvement: Imperial's Space Magnometer Laboratory provided the magnetometer sensor (MAGIC) for the CINEMA and TRIO spacecraft.

Imperial and Cinema

 

DoubleStar

Double Star was a joint European Space Agency (ESA)/Chinese mission to explore the Earth's magnetosphere. The mission comprises two Double Star satellites, called TC1 and TC2 (Tan-Ce is Chinese for 'Explorer'). The satellites orbited the Earth in equatorial and polar orbits, enabling simultaneous measurements of the Earth's magnetosphere at complementary locations.  

Current status: Mission ended 14.10.07.

Imperial’s involvement: The Space Magnetometer Laboratory at Imperial provided hardware for the 3 axis fluxgate magnetometer on each satellite.

ESA official Double Star website

Imperial and Double Star

 

Cluster

Cluster is a scientific mission of the ESA, with the aim to study the space environment of the Earth, including its magnetic shield.

Current status: Ongoing

Imperial’s involvement: The Cluster Science Centre at Imperial is responsible for providing science tools to the UK Cluster community. The team built and operates the magnetometer. Imperial's Principal Investigator on Cluster is Chris Carr. 

Imperial and Cluster

AMPTE-UKS

AMPTE UKS was part of the Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorer (AMPTE) mission as a sub satellite of the Ion Release Module (IRM) spacecraft. It measured natural plasma and released tracer ions into the space plasma environment.

Current status: Decommissioned by 1989.

Imperial's involvement: Imperial scientists built and operated the magnetometer. Imperial’s Principal Investigator for AMPTE-UKS was Professor David Southwood.

RAL Space and AMPTE UKS