Abstract:
In the present-day context, small satellites and their constellations consisting of varying sizes (nano, micro, pico satellites) are being favored
for remote sensing and in situ probing of the heliosphere and terrestrial magnetosphere-ionosphere system. We introduce a mission concept aimed
at concurrently observing Earth’s northern and southern auroral ovals while conducting in situ measurements of particles, fields, and electron
temperature. The mission concept consists of two small satellites, each having an identical auroral X-ray imager, an in situ particle detector,
a magnetometer pair, and an electron temperature analyzer onboard in an elliptical polar orbit (400 × 10000 km ). This mission would assist
the space weather community in primarily answering important questions about the formation, morphology, and hemispherical asymmetries that
we observe in the X-ray aurora, the fluxes of precipitating particles, Solar Energetic Particles, currents, and cusp dynamics. Once realized, this
would be the first dedicated twin spacecraft mission of such kind to simultaneously study hemispheric asymmetries of solar-wind magnetosphere
coupling. This study reveals the intricacies of the mission concept, encompassing orbital details, potential payloads, and its underlying scientific
objectives. By leveraging the capabilities of small satellites, this mission concept is poised to make significant contributions to space weather
monitoring and research.
