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Report Series: Committee on Solar and Space Physics Agile Responses to Short-Notice Rideshare Opportunities for the NASA Heliophysics Division (2020) / Chapter Skim
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4 Secondary Payloads
Pages 10-12

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From page 10...
... The committee refers to these as instruments that could be stocked and stored for a limited time, or "kept on the shelf."1 Finding: Continuous and distributed observations often employ standard instrumentation types that can be stocked and stored for some time before a rideshare opportunity emerges. 1 The committee did not develop a list of these types of instruments; however, an example is networks of GPS receivers that measure total electron content, such as those used on the COSMIC mission.
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From page 11...
... Additionally, science that requires observations made from one or multiple specific vantage points may necessitate secondary payloads with propulsive capability to reach their desired locations or orbits. Examples include constellations designed to populate LEO for ionosphere-thermosphere system science, formation-flying spacecraft designed for high-precision solar observations, and in situ monitors spaced along the Sun-Earth line.
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From page 12...
... technologies facilitating rapid integration and general accommodation adaptation can expand the scientific potential of rideshare opportunities.
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Key Terms

  • standard instrumentation
  • rideshare opportunities
  • rideshare program
  • scientifically valuable
  • instrumentation types

  • host platforms
  • secondary payload
  • propulsive capability
  • rapidly integrated
  • exploratory science

  • program include
  • launch vehicles
  • novel payloads
  • valuable measurements
  • technological readiness

  • scientific priorities
  • measurements benefit
  • costly development
  • ideal rapidly
  • standard measurements

  • populate leo
  • examples include
  • factors involved
  • novel instrument
  • distributed observations

  • program standards
  • necessitate secondary
  • heavily relied
  • valuable payloads
  • include constellations


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