The Contribution of Space Technologies to Arctic Policy Priorities

CASSIOPE Facts in Brief

Country: Canada Operations: Canadian Space Agency (with support from eight Canadian Universities, lead by the University of Calgary as well as Canadian Communications Research Centre, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science of Japan and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory); Bristol Aerospace (construction of satellite platform) and MDA (project’s prime contractor). Status: Final stages of development, projected launch 2012 Mission Duration: Projected lifetime of 2 years Coverage: Arctic circumpolar region Orbit: Highly elliptical polar orbit, 300 x 1500 km, 80 o inclination, projected orbital period 103 minutes (14 orbits per day) Key Service Areas: hybrid satellite to offer both scientific observations of the Earth’s ionosphere and first digital broadband courier service for commercial use. Web link: http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/satellites/cassiope.asp With a dual payload consisting of e-POP (enhanced polar outflow probe), and Cascade, this mission will achieve both a scientific and a commercial objective: e-POP will provide scientists with unprecedented details about the Earth’s ionosphere, thermosphere and magnetosphere, helping scientists understand the cause and effects of potentially dangerous space weather, while Cascade will demonstrate a new digital communications ‘courier’ service which will provide high data rate, high-capacity store and forward technology. This generic, low-cost satellite platform will carry two payloads: e-POP, a scientific payload consisting of eight high- resolution instruments used to probe the characteristics of near-Earth space. These onboard sensors include: VHF/ UHF transmitter (CER), VLF/HF receiver (RRI), auroral imagers (2) (FAI), GPS receivers (5) (GAP), ion detector (IRM), electron detector (SEI), neutral particle detector (NMS), magnetometers (2) (MGF). Cascade is a high data rate, high capacity store and forward technology payload offering a data down link of Ka—band, >300 Mbps and data storage up to 1.5 GB/orbit. As the new platform produced for the CASSIOPE mission will be versatile, it will be possible to adapt and use it for various missions involving science, technology, Earth observation, geologic exploration and information delivery all addressing the current service gap that exists in Arctic coverage above 70 o latitude north. In particular, an improved understanding of space weather will assist Arctic interests to better predict potential impacts on technology systems (i.e. communication cables, power systems, pipelines and radio communication and navigation systems) as well as better prepare systems to be more robust and resilient. Characteristics of new-Earth space weather including ionosphere, thermosphere and magnetosphere parameters.

Mission Objectives

System Capabilities

Measured Parameters

Relevance to Arctic Interests

C.3 Navigation Satellite Systems Inventory The following pages contain templates of existing and planned navigation satellite systems. C.3.1 Existing Navigation Satellite Systems Global Positioning System (GPS) Facts in Brief Country: United States Operations: United States Air Force

Status: Operational since 1995, 31 operational satellites with 3-4 decommissioned satellites that can be reactivated if needed Mission Duration: Design life of 5 years Coverage: Global coverage, with at least 8 satellites visible at any time from any place; each satellite circles the Earth twice daily Orbit: Medium earth orbit at 20,200 km altitude Key Service Areas: Positioning (surveying, location based services, etc.); navigation (air, marine, road and rail transportation, personal direction-finding, tracking and surveillance, etc.); and timing (synchronization of telecom and computer networks, power grids, time stamping for banking, legal, and shipping transactions, etc.) Web link: http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/ GPS satellites provide service to civilian and military users. The civilian service is freely available to all users on a continuous, worldwide basis. The military service is available to US and allied armed forces, as well as approved Government agencies. The Global Positioning System (GPS) provides a «worst case» pseudorange accuracy of 7.8 meters at a 95% confidence level. The actual accuracy users attain depends on factors including atmospheric effects and receiver quality. Some high-quality GPS SPS receivers currently provide better than 3 meter horizontal accuracy. Higher accuracy is available by using augmentation systems, which enable real-time positioning to within a few centimeters, and post-mission measurements at the millimeter level. Improvements to GPS have been ongoing, and as new generations of GPS satellites replace old, the accuracy and reliability of the system have steadily improved. The GPS modernization program involves a series of consecutive satellite acquisitions, including: GPS IIR (M) – 2005-17, which added a second civilian GPS signal (L2C) for improved performance in commercial applications; GPS IIF – 2010-25, which included an operational version of the third civilian GPS signal (L5) for transportation safety; and GPS III – 2014-ongoing, which will add a fourth civilian GPS signal (L1C) for international interoperability. It also involves improvements to the GPS control segment, including the Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP) and the Advanced Control Segment (OCX).

Mission Objectives

System Capabilities

Position and changes in position

Measured Parameters

C. INVENTORY OF SPACE SYSTEMS 87