Abstract
The Atmospheric Drag, Occultation 'N' Ionospheric Scintillation mission (ADONIS) studies the dynamics of the terrestrial thermosphere and ionosphere in dependency of solar events over a full solar cycle in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The objectives are to investigate satellite drag with in-situ measurements and the ionospheric electron density profiles with radio occultation and scintillation measurements. A constellation of two satellites provides the possibility to gain near real-time data (NRT) about ionospheric conditions over the Arctic region where current coverage is insufficient. The mission shall also provide global high-resolution data to improve assimilative ionospheric models. The low-cost constellation can be launched using a single Vega rocket and most of the instruments are already space-proven allowing for rapid development and good reliability. From July 16 to 25, 2013, the Alpbach Summer School 2013 was organised by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), the European Space Agency (ESA), the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) and the association of Austrian space industries Austrospace in Alpbach, Austria. During the workshop, four teams of 15 students each independently developed four different space mission proposals on the topic of "Space Weather: Science, Missions and Systems", supported by a team of tutors. The present work is based on the mission proposal that resulted from one of these teams' efforts.
Highlights
The Sun is continuously emitting a stream of charged particles and electromagnetic radiation, the so-called solar wind, into interplanetary space
The ADONIS mission proposed in this paper is a constellation of two identical satellites (A-DONIS, B-DONIS) designed to study the drag on satellites and to provide a global monitoring of the ionosphere through radio occultation and scintillation measurements over the solar cycle
The long mission timeline ensures an improvement in our understanding of how the drag on satellites and ionospheric properties are changing at times of enhanced solar activity
Summary
The Sun is continuously emitting a stream of charged particles and electromagnetic radiation, the so-called solar wind, into interplanetary space. Intending to monitor ionospheric changes due to space weather, the mission will take measurements related to two phenomena: first, as the upper atmosphere is heated and perturbed, the gas dynamic drag effects increase and satellite orbits are altered. The mission will provide near real-time (NRT) ionospheric monitoring products to extend state-of-the-art space weather service capabilities as the currently used products from medium Earth orbit GNSS satellites have low performance at auroral latitudes. ADONIS is unique in that it combines both the radio occultation and scintillation measurements with drag measurements in one mission It will address the space weather-related issues critical to LEO objects (spacecraft, space debris) which mainly are the effects on communication and orbital parameters.
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