Auroral Cluster: A Space Physics Mission for Multiple, Electronically Tethered Small Satellites

Auroral Cluster is a space physics mission that has been identified by the NASA Space Physics Strategic Implementation Study as a candidate fur flight in the next decade. Auroral Cluster will employ multiple spacecraft outfitted with similar complements of science instruments allowing simultaneous multipoint plasma measurements in the Earth's auroral regions. Co-orbiting small satellites (mass < 400 kg each) that are electronically "tethered" to share distributed spacecraft systems represent an efficient approach for achieving the science goals of the Auroral Cluster mission. Multisatellite missions represent a new trend in gathering space science data and pose many new and difficult challenges for the space systems engineer. The results of an Auroral Cluster feasibility study, which discusses a variety of mission trade-offs, are presented. A discussion of the science background and mission goals is used to identify the technical drivers for the design of the multiple spacecraft system. A mission plan and some considerations for a Auroral Cluster satellite design are presented. Special consideration is given to the spacecraft subsystems that will allow the system to be operated as a network of electronically tethered interdependent small satellites. These subsystems include attitude determination, spatial sepamtion knowledge and control, data storage, and intersatellite communication.