The CUSPED Mission: CUbeSat for GNSS Sounding of the Ionosphere-Plasmasphere Electron Density

The CubeSat for GNSS Sounding of Ionosphere-Plasmasphere Electron Density (CuSPED) is a 3U CubeSat mission concept that has been developed in response to the NASA Heliophysics program's decadal science goal of the determining of the dynamics and coupling of the Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere, and atmosphere and their response to solar and terrestrial inputs. The mission was formulated through a collaboration between West Virginia University, Georgia Tech, NASA GSFC and NASA JPL, and features a 3U CubeSat that hosts both a miniaturized space capable Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver for topside atmospheric sounding, along with a Thermal Electron Capped Hemispherical Spectrometer (TECHS) for the purpose of in situ electron precipitation measurements. These two complimentary measurement techniques will provide data for the purpose of constraining ionosphere-magnetosphere coupling models and will also enable studies of the local plasma environment and spacecraft charging; a phenomenon which is known to lead to significant errors in the measurement of low-energy, charged species from instruments aboard spacecraft traversing the ionosphere. This paper will provide an overview of the concept including its science motivation and implementation.