ZACUBE-1 space weather mission: Characterize the SuperDARN HF radar antenna array at SANAE-IV

摘要

ZACUBE-1 is a space weather Cubesat mission that will characterize the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) radar array at the South African Antarctic station, SANAE-IV (2.84°W, 71.67° S). The mission will enhance the science return from this important Antarctic ground-based facility used to monitor the density and movement of the polar and high-latitude ionosphere. The satellite was developed by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, the South African National Space Agency, and Stellenbosch University, with funding from the South African Department of Science and Technology. The main payload on the satellite is an HF radio beacon that will be used as a space-based signal source to experimentally determine the beam pattern of the Twin Terminated Folded Dipole antenna array of the SANAE-IV HF Radar. Rigorous ionospheric ray tracing simulations using the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model and simulated satellite orbital geometries have shown that the signals from the HF beacon will propagate through the Antarctic ionosphere under most ionospheric conditions but with sporadic visibility from SANAE-IV. Any research groups within its footprint are invited to make use of the HF beacon signal. ZACUBE-1 will be launched with a Dnepr launch vehicle from Russia in the first quarter of 2013.