The CubeSat Mission for Studying Solar Particles (CuSP)

The CubeSat Mission for studying Solar Particlesis a NASA Science Mission Directorate and Heliophysics Division sponsored 6U Interplanetary CubeSat Science Mission. CuSP is scheduled to launch in December 2019 as a secondary payload on the SLS (Space Launch System) EM-1 (Exploratory Mission One) flight.CuSP is a pathfinder mission for Space Weather Research as it will be the first heliophysics science mission to be placed in heliocentric orbit outside the influence of the Earth’s magnetosphere. CuSP features three complementary, miniaturized sensors to address two science objectives:1) study the sources and acceleration mechanisms of solar and IP particles in near-Earth orbit, and 2) support space weather research by determining proton radiation levels during Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) events and identifying properties of suprathermal ions that could help predict the arrival of strong coronal mass ejection-driven interplanetary shock waves that produce geomagnetic storms. The Suprathermal Ion Spectrograph, or SIS, is built by the Southwest Research Institute to detect and characterize the low-energy suprathermal and solar energetic particles. NASA Goddard’s Miniaturized Electron and Proton Telescope, or MERiT, will meausre high-energy solar energetic particles. Finally, the Vector Helium Magnetometer, or VHM, from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will measure the strength and direction of the interplanetary magnetic field.In addition to its science objectives, CuSP’s primary technical objective is to increase the technological readiness level (TRL) of our novel SIS instrument concept so that it can be proposed and flown with significantly reduced risk and cost on future Heliophysics missions. This talk discusses the challenges, progress, and status of the CuSP project.