3 min read<\/p>\n
NASA Mission to Study Mysteries in the Origin of Solar Radio Waves<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
NASA\u2019s CubeSat Radio Interferometry Experiment, or CURIE, is scheduled to launch July 9, 2024, to investigate the unresolved origins of radio waves coming from the Sun.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/figure>Scientists first noticed these radio waves decades ago, and over the years they\u2019ve determined the radio waves come from solar flares and giant eruptions on the Sun called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, which are a key driver of space weather that can impact satellite communications and technology at Earth. But no one knows where the radio waves originate within a CME.<\/p>\n
The CURIE mission aims to advance our understanding using a technique called low frequency radio interferometry, which has never been used in space before. This technique relies on CURIE\u2019s two independent spacecraft \u2014 together no bigger than a shoebox \u2014 that will orbit Earth about two miles apart. This separation allows CURIE\u2019s instruments to measure tiny differences in the arrival time of radio waves, which enables them to determine exactly where the radio waves came from.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a very ambitious and very exciting mission,\u201d said Principal Investigator David Sundkvist, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. \u201cThis is the first time that someone is ever flying a radio interferometer in space in a controlled way, and so it\u2019s a pathfinder for radio astronomy in general.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/figure>The spacecraft, designed by a team from UC Berkeley, will measure radio waves ranging 0.1 to 19 megahertz to pinpoint the radio waves\u2019 solar origin. These wavelengths are blocked by Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere, so this research can only be done from space.<\/p>\n
CURIE will launch aboard an ESA (European Space Agency) Ariane 6 rocket in early July from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. The rocket will take CURIE to 360 miles above Earth\u2019s surface, where it can get a clear view of the Sun\u2019s radio waves.<\/p>\n
Once in its circular orbit, the two adjoined CURIE spacecraft will establish communication with ground stations before orienting and separating. When the separated satellites are in formation, their dual eight-foot antennas will deploy and start collecting data.<\/p>\n
CURIE is sponsored by NASA\u2019s Heliophysics Flight Opportunities for Research and Technology (H-FORT) Program and is the sole mission manifested on the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative<\/a>\u2019s ELaNa (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites) 43 mission. As a pathfinder, CURIE will demonstrate a proof-of-concept for space-based radio interferometry in the CubeSat form factor. CURIE will also pave the way for the upcoming Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment, or SunRISE<\/a>, mission. SunRISE will employ six CubeSats to map the region where the solar radio waves originate in 2-D.<\/p>\n