Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission overview

Abstract

The Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission is part of NASA's Living With a Star Program, and is scheduled to launch in September, 2012. The fundamental goal of the mission is to provide an understanding, ideally to the point of predictability, of how populations of relativistic electrons and penetrating ions in space form or change in response to variable inputs of energy from the Sun. The mission consists of two nearly-identical spacecraft launched into highly-elliptical Earth orbits, as well as the ground and data systems necessary to return and distribute science and housekeeping data and provide command and control of the space systems. The two spacecraft are launched aboard a single Atlas V 401 launch vehicle, and are placed in orbits that cause one spacecraft to lap the other approximately four times per year. This mission design enables an investigation of both spatial and temporal effects within the radiation belts using only two spacecraft, and the two year science mission will allow an investigation of all local time positions and interaction regions. Each spacecraft contains a suite of instruments to study ions, electrons and the local magnetic and electric fields. An overview of the RBSP mission will be presented, beginning with the science basis and goals for the mission. The driving mission requirements will be presented, and the unique engineering challenges of operating in the radiation belts will be discussed in detail. The implementation of both the space and ground segments will be presented, including a discussion of the challenges inherent with operating multiple spacecraft concurrently and working with a distributed network of science operation centers. The RBSP mission will enable characterization of the fundamental physics that drive the formation and evolution of the Earth's.