Title:

Developing CubeSat Instruments to Measure Upper Atmospheric Winds

A significant lack of scientific research into the atmospheric winds that command the turbulence of the troposphere motivates the development of new instrumentation to record these winds more accurately and more efficiently. There have been very few past attempts to record upper atmospheric winds all of which have produced insignificant results due to statistical errors. By combining an Ion Gauge instrument (which has been tested on numerous past missions in a variety of contexts) with a quickly oscillating baffle arm, an instrument may be produced that can take winds data simply and with low margins of error. This design is advantageous not only for its simplicity, but for its lightweight and compact nature which can be deployed on CubeSat missions far less expensive than larger, more complex missions. The initial prototype for this design performed as expected in a laboratory setting and provided a much needed proof-of-concept to encourage further development. Future work in this area may include adding a secondary baffle arm to further reduce data collection errors and adjusting the dimensions of the instrument to better accommodate the CubeSat's design constraints.

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