REAL

Mission Overview

The overarching objective for the REAL Cubesat is to improve our understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible for scattering radiation belt electrons intothe atmosphere. REAL's mission will characterize different modes of atmospheric loss by making precision measurements of the electron pitch angle and energy distributions in low Earth orbit over a wide energy range (keV to MeV). With this, REAL will determine when and where different modes of electron precipitation loss occur, how they depend on energy, and what relative impact they have on the radiation belts. These objectives help develop the knowledge and capability to detect and predict extreme conditions in space in order to further help protect life and society as well as safegaurd human and robotic explorers beyond Earth.

Spacecraft Overview

The REAL Spacecraft is a 3U reseach cubesate built and tested here at Montana State University. The cubesat's design is based on improvements made from our IT-SPINS spacecraft and housing an Energetic Particle Sensor (ECP) payload built at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. The ECP will use three independent sensors with varying energy ranges to make high time-resolution and high energy-resolution observations at 5 pitch-angles simultaneously.  

REAL spacecraft without the solar arrays

Status

REAL has been nearly fully assembled and is waiting on the final touches on flight software. Outstanding issues with our launch provider have resulted in REAL currently being de-manifested from any launches; however, we are still expecting to launch the spacecraft by the end of 2025.