MAC Awarded an SBIR Phase II project to continue the development of an interferometer to measure thermospheric winds and temperature from a CubeSat platform 

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YPSILANTI, MI, July 8, 2021– Michigan Aerospace Corporation (MAC) is pleased to announce the award and acceptance of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase II award, titled “Miniaturized Nightglow Interferometer for Monitoring Emissions from a CubeSat.” 

MAC proposes to design and construct an engineering model version of a remote-sensing instrument, based around a Fabry-Perot interferometer, for sensing thermospheric winds and temperatures from a CubeSat-class satellite. This instrument will provide an important, relatively inexpensive and compact means for measuring important elements of the state of the thermosphere, with implications for improving space weather observations and forecasts and improving the modeling of the solar/terrestrial interaction. A relatively low-cost instrument on a CubeSat allows for the possibility of multiple satellites in various orbits to obtain a more complete picture of the thermosphere than currently available from single platforms for a reasonable cost. Michigan Aerospace’s extensive experience with Fabry-Perot interferometers and sensor systems based on them, including for thermospheric sensing, will help pave the path towards this program’s success. 

For more details, please visit SBIR.GOV