SNIPE Mission for Space Weather Research

The Small Scale magNetospheric and Ionospheric Plasma Experiment (SNIPE)’s scientific goal is to observe spatial temporal variations of the micro-scale plasma structures on topside ionosphere. four 6U CubeSats (~10 kg) will be launched into a polar orbit at ~500 km. distances each satellite controlled from 10 km more than ~1,000 by formation flying algorithm. SNIPE mission equipped with identical instruments, Solid-State Telescopes(SST), Magnetometers(Mag), Langmuir Probes(LP). All payloads have high resolution (sampling rates about Hz). Iridium communication modules provide an opportunity upload emergency commands change operational modes when geomagnetic storms occur. SNIPE’s observations dimensions, occurrence rates, amplitudes, spatiotemporal evolution cap patches, field-aligned currents (FAC), radiation belt microbursts, equatorial mid-latitude blobs bubbles determine their significance solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere interaction quantify impact space weather. CubeSat constellation, mission, Soyuz-2 Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2023.