Then it is high time for an update on what is happening in the work to establish the successor to the success GCI CUSP, which with its 12 rockets between 2028-2021, set a new standard for how to coordinate and carry out sounding rocket campaigns for the good of both the science and the funding sources.
For a couple of years there has been work on this successor – “GCI CUSP 3 – Solar Max”, and now things have started to happen with regard to missions.
The first funded project belongs to Principal Investigator: Glyn Collinson (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) – RESOLUTE. Proposed launch from Andenes.
The next project that appeared was from the University of Oslo – ICI-6. The following applies here:
“ICI-6: Exploring 3D turbulence in the cusp aurora”
- Revisit the cusp!
- Build upon the experience from ICI5b.
- Study 3D turbulent structures at high latitudes and the role of auroral particle precipitation in plasma structuring in the cusp!
- Possibility of the CubeSat eject pod.
Tentative launch from Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard around 2028.
northern lights above Svalbard, Norway.
The currently last project being discussed as a potential “Solar Max” project, is a potential new ISAS/JAXA mission – preferably from Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard around 2028. The scientific rationale for the project is – “Sounding rocket observation of neutral mass density enhancement in the cusp“.
- The primary objective of this experiment is to understand quantitatively the upper atmospheric dynamics generating neutral upwelling and mass density enhancement in the cusp region”
More info on all these will come as they develop.