Its function is to spot the X-ray pulses produced by solar flares– explosive releases of magnetic energy viewed as enormous flashes on the Suns surface area. These offer rise in turn to space weather condition, threatening satellites and terrestrial power and interactions networks, even airplane on polar flights.
” We are really pleased to have acquired our first telemetry from the instrument, revealing it is in excellent health,” remarks Juhani Huovelin, Chairman of ISAWARE. “It is very important to note that this is simply an initial try to find now, however its stability and data quality are extremely promising.”
Aboa Space Research Oy, Oxford Instruments Technologies and Talvioja Consulting likewise worked together on XFM-CS.
The Sunstorm CubeSat was manufactured by Finlands Reaktor Space Lab, and the mission funded by Business Finland and the FLY component of ESAs General Support Technology Programme, committed to the early space screening of promising new technologies.
Sunstorm continues its in-orbit operations and the final phases of its commissioning, describes Janne Kuhno of Reaktor Space Lab: “The early operations went really quickly and we handled to stablish bi-directional S-Band communications on the very first pass, carry out platform avionics medical examination, release all 4 solar panels and obtain Sun pointing attitude for payload operations.”
” Acquiring our first solar X-ray spectrum so quickly after launch is a significant achievement in itself,” keeps in mind Camille Pirat, ESA Technical Officer for the Sunstorm mission.
” It is likewise good news for our forthcoming area weather condition objective, also bring a version of the XFM-CS instrument– which was formerly called Lagrange but is presently the subject of a naming competition.”
A second ESA CubeSat was also launched with Sunstorm, discusses Roger Walker, ovserseeing ESAs Technology CubeSats: “The radiation-detecting RadCube, established by a team from Hungary, Poland the UK, is likewise undergoing commissioning, with its very first results anticipated next month.”
Credit: Reaktor Space Lab
Around the exact same size as 2 big Harry Potter paperbacks, ESAs Sun-watching Sunstorm CubeSat has actually produced its very first solar X-ray spectrum, coming just over a week after its launch to orbit aboard a Vega rocket.
CubeSats are miniaturized satellites based on standardized 10 cm boxes. Sunstorm is a 2-unit CubeSat, hosting an ingenious solar X-ray spectrometer called the X-ray Flux Monitor for CubeSats (XFM-CS).
A Finnish team led by the ISAWARE company established the miniaturized XFM-CS instrument.