Blue Canyon Technologies Joins Forces with the NRL and the UK MoD for Space Weather Demonstration Mission

Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) today announced that it has been selected by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to support a combined initiative between the US Department of the Navy and the UK Ministry of Defence for a demonstration mission called CIRCE.

CIRCE, which stands for Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction CubeSat Experiment, will utilize two 6U CubeSats flying in tandem formation in low-Earth orbit (LEO) to measure the ionosphere and radiation environment space from multiple vantage points. The BCT-built CubeSats will also have a low-latency data link to enable operational responsiveness. NRL will provide two ultraviolet photometers per satellite to measure the naturally occurring airglow and determine ionospheric structure. The UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, or DSTL, will provide the remaining three payloads per satellite. DSTL’s payload system, known as IRIS, is a combination of three payloads that include a topside GPS receiver to measure electron densities and content, an ion and neutral mass spectrometer and a compact radiation sensor.

The ionosphere, an upper layer of the atmosphere extending from a height of about 50 km to about 1000 km above the earth, acts as a shield around the earth. “The structure and density of the ionosphere can vary quite a bit, day-to-day, depending on what the Sun is doing. Since space weather affects satellite communications and radar, a thorough understanding of the environment is essential to commonly used satellite infrastructure like GPS and communications systems. These low-cost, compact satellites will demonstrate advanced methods for understanding the space environment to benefit systems and users that depend on a reliable space infrastructure,” said Matt Pallas, CIRCE Program Manager at Blue Canyon Technologies.

CIRCE is scheduled to launch in March of 2020. A successful demonstration will provide key insights to the radiation environment, density and composition in the space environment.

Blue Canyon’s diverse spacecraft platform has the proven capability to enable a broad range of missions and technological advances for the New Space economy, further reducing the barriers of space entry.

BCT is currently building more than 60 spacecraft for government, commercial and academic missions. The company has doubled in size over the past 12 months and plans to open its new 80,000-square-foot headquarters and production facility in 2020.