SURROUND is a constellation of small satellites that will identify and track solar storms and solar radio bursts as they travel through the inner solar system. This innovative mission will provide us with early warnings and more accurate forecasts of the impacts of solar storms on Earth.
Space Weather
The Sun regularly produces solar eruptions in the form of solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and solar energetic particle events (SEPs), which can have a variety of adverse space weather effects at Earth and in the near-Earth environment. Space Weather can impact global navigation systems and radio communications, damage power grids and spacecraft instrumentation, and be a health hazard to astronauts and polar aircraft crews. CMEs that can cause large geomagnetic storms which impact power grids are of particular concern and are a current focus of both the scientific research community and operational partners. Considering the variety of impacts that space weather can have on Earth and in near-Earth space, forecasting extreme space weather events caused by CMEs, and associated flares and SEPs, has become a crucial activity. There are now many operational space weather forecasting centres around the world that provide alerts, warnings, forecasts, and general guidance to end-users in industries such as aviation, energy, space, finance, transport, and emergency planning.
While space weather is becoming an ever more important hazard to mitigate, CME forecasting is still in its infancy. A useful means of tracking solar eruptive activity is via solar radio bursts (SRBs); CME-driven shocks can be tracked via type II SRBs, while energetic electrons escaping into the heliosphere can be tracked via type III SRBs. However there is currently no operational means to monitor and track SRBs throughout the inner heliosphere. We propose a constellation of CubeSats called SURROUND to observe SRBs in order to track CME and SEPs for space weather monitoring. SURROUND will provide Europe with more accurate monitoring and forecasting of space weather activity in near real-time.
Solar radio bursts are associated with coronal mass ejections (type II) and solar energetic particles (type III). Left: Solar eruption illustration (adapted from ESA/A. Baker, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO). Right: Example of dynamic spectra similar to SURROUND’s expected observations showing an interplanetary type II and type III radio bursts observed by Wind/Waves (Gopalswamy et al. 2019).
The objectives of SURROUND are the detection and tracking of SEPs and CMEs via triangulation (or multilateration) of SRBs, allowing for near real-time monitoring of space weather events for the first time. SURROUND will therefore revolutionise how we can monitor and potentially forecast space events hazardous to Earth’s communications and infrastructure.
To do this, we propose to launch three to five virtually identical CubeSats into different positions, allowing accurate three dimensional triangulation of SRBs and their associated space weather activity. One spacecraft will be placed at each of the L1, L4, and L5 Sun-Earth system Lagrange points (where gravitational forces of the Sun and orbital motion of the Earth are balanced). These positions allow a spacecraft to be maintained, consuming less fuel. Additionally, one spacecraft will be placed at a distance <1 AU from the Sun (Earth leading), and another at >1 AU (Earth trailing).
SURROUND will consists of between 3 and 5 spacecraft located at L1, L4, and L5, together with spacecraft ahead and behind the Earth to achieve it’s mission goals.
Each SURROUND satellite will be equipped with a radio spectrometer, which is common to already operational scientific spacecraft such as the ESA Solar Orbiter mission’s Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument. The first space-borne radio spectrometers were flown in the 1970s and since then these instruments have evolved somewhat, but all consist of a number of relatively straightforward antennas, receivers, and associated electronics, such as low noise amplifiers. Modern space-borne radio spectrometers cover frequencies that range from a few kHz to tens of MHz, with time resolutions ranging from seconds to 10s of seconds. Each SURROUND radio spectrometer will observe in the frequency range 0.01 – 25 MHz, enabling radio burst tracking from 2 – 150 solar radii.
Whilst the small size and standardised form factor of CubeSats can help to significantly reduce their cost of development and manufacture, most CubeSats to date have been launched into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This is due to the lack of dedicated launch opportunities and limited propulsion, communications, and power-raising capabilities to operate beyond this regime. Nevertheless, a number of proposals for deep-space and interplanetary CubeSat missions are progressing and enabling technologies are currently being developed to address the challenges of operating these small satellites beyond near-Earth orbits.
The team was tasked to assess the feasibility of the SURROUND mission and identify key requirements for technology development to enable its success. In order to achieve this aim, the mission science requirements were defined and an initial high-level mission and system analysis was performed. This was carried out by conducting a ‘Phase-0’ study: the very initial stage of planning the mission concept.
Cartoon of SURROUND’s mission objectives resulting from the Phase-0 study.
The main results of the Phase-0 study can be summarised as follows:
SURROUND can achieve its mission objectives using either a 3, 4 or 5-spacecraft constellation with deployment to L4 and L5 being the most challenging, requiring the most propulsion.
The same antenna configuration can be implemented to use multiple multilateration and direction finding techniques depending on satellite positions. Geometrical modelling allows us to find the ‘best case scenario’ for each spacecraft configuration.
The SURROUND mission is feasible with current technological and ground communication allows us to receive high-quality data from SURROUND every 30-mins to 1-hour from L1 (spacecraft closest to Earth) and at longer regular intervals from the remaining spacecraft.
Current technologies also allow feasible forecasting potential SEP and incoming CMEs (depending on the data quality).
Example of modelling SRB tracking using a geometrical approach (also known as time-of-arrival). This assumes that the SRB is located within the black polygon, showing the region of possible source location. Figure courtesy of Dale Weigt.
With the Phase-0 study, other avenues can be explored in more detail. For example, current work in the department aims to improve the accuracy of tracking SRBs by using more robust methods to calculate the location error (e.g., Baysian inference techniques). This will be automated to any number of satellites in any configuration, providing ‘heat maps’ of the accuracy of satellite tracking (see below) and allows us to investigate the limits of the interplanetary space we want to focus on.
Initial results implementing more robust error analysis (i.e., Bayesian inference) to determine the spacecraft tracking accuracy of the space of interest, in this case within the Sun-Earth orbit (dashed line). Blue colours show regions of higher accuracy (or lower triangulation uncertainty) with red regions indicating very poor accuracy regions. Figure courtesy of Alberto Cañizares.
The science of the SURROUND mission and key results of the Phase-0 study is currently being reviewed for publication and will be made publicly available in due course.
The project team consists of solar physicists in the DIAS Astrophysics Section (Shane Maloney, Dale Weigt, Alberto Cañizares, Peter Gallagher, and Sophie Murray) and engineers in the University of Manchester’s Space Systems Research Group (Ciara McGrath, Nicholas Crisp, Alejandro Rojas).
D. M. Weigt et al, The science behind SURROUND: a constellation of CubeSats around the Sun, Proceedings of PRE IX Conference, DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2308.04194.
N. H. Crisp et al, Technology Challenges of SURROUND: A Constellation of Small Satellites Around the Sun for Tracking Solar Radio Bursts, Proceedings of the AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, in press.
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SURROUND: Monitoring Solar Radio Bursts with a Constellation of CubeSats
Space Weather
The Sun regularly produces solar eruptions in the form of solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and solar energetic particle events (SEPs), which can have a variety of adverse space weather effects at Earth and in the near-Earth environment. Space Weather can impact global navigation systems and radio communications, damage power grids and spacecraft instrumentation, and be a health hazard to astronauts and polar aircraft crews. CMEs that can cause large geomagnetic storms which impact power grids are of particular concern and are a current focus of both the scientific research community and operational partners. Considering the variety of impacts that space weather can have on Earth and in near-Earth space, forecasting extreme space weather events caused by CMEs, and associated flares and SEPs, has become a crucial activity. There are now many operational space weather forecasting centres around the world that provide alerts, warnings, forecasts, and general guidance to end-users in industries such as aviation, energy, space, finance, transport, and emergency planning.
While space weather is becoming an ever more important hazard to mitigate, CME forecasting is still in its infancy. A useful means of tracking solar eruptive activity is via solar radio bursts (SRBs); CME-driven shocks can be tracked via type II SRBs, while energetic electrons escaping into the heliosphere can be tracked via type III SRBs. However there is currently no operational means to monitor and track SRBs throughout the inner heliosphere. We propose a constellation of CubeSats called SURROUND to observe SRBs in order to track CME and SEPs for space weather monitoring. SURROUND will provide Europe with more accurate monitoring and forecasting of space weather activity in near real-time.
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SURROUND Mission
The objectives of SURROUND are the detection and tracking of SEPs and CMEs via triangulation (or multilateration) of SRBs, allowing for near real-time monitoring of space weather events for the first time. SURROUND will therefore revolutionise how we can monitor and potentially forecast space events hazardous to Earth’s communications and infrastructure.
To do this, we propose to launch three to five virtually identical CubeSats into different positions, allowing accurate three dimensional triangulation of SRBs and their associated space weather activity. One spacecraft will be placed at each of the L1, L4, and L5 Sun-Earth system Lagrange points (where gravitational forces of the Sun and orbital motion of the Earth are balanced). These positions allow a spacecraft to be maintained, consuming less fuel. Additionally, one spacecraft will be placed at a distance <1 AU from the Sun (Earth leading), and another at >1 AU (Earth trailing).
Each SURROUND satellite will be equipped with a radio spectrometer, which is common to already operational scientific spacecraft such as the ESA Solar Orbiter mission’s Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument. The first space-borne radio spectrometers were flown in the 1970s and since then these instruments have evolved somewhat, but all consist of a number of relatively straightforward antennas, receivers, and associated electronics, such as low noise amplifiers. Modern space-borne radio spectrometers cover frequencies that range from a few kHz to tens of MHz, with time resolutions ranging from seconds to 10s of seconds. Each SURROUND radio spectrometer will observe in the frequency range 0.01 – 25 MHz, enabling radio burst tracking from 2 – 150 solar radii.
Whilst the small size and standardised form factor of CubeSats can help to significantly reduce their cost of development and manufacture, most CubeSats to date have been launched into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This is due to the lack of dedicated launch opportunities and limited propulsion, communications, and power-raising capabilities to operate beyond this regime. Nevertheless, a number of proposals for deep-space and interplanetary CubeSat missions are progressing and enabling technologies are currently being developed to address the challenges of operating these small satellites beyond near-Earth orbits.
Return to top
Phase-0 Study
The team was tasked to assess the feasibility of the SURROUND mission and identify key requirements for technology development to enable its success. In order to achieve this aim, the mission science requirements were defined and an initial high-level mission and system analysis was performed. This was carried out by conducting a ‘Phase-0’ study: the very initial stage of planning the mission concept.
The main results of the Phase-0 study can be summarised as follows:
With the Phase-0 study, other avenues can be explored in more detail. For example, current work in the department aims to improve the accuracy of tracking SRBs by using more robust methods to calculate the location error (e.g., Baysian inference techniques). This will be automated to any number of satellites in any configuration, providing ‘heat maps’ of the accuracy of satellite tracking (see below) and allows us to investigate the limits of the interplanetary space we want to focus on.
The science of the SURROUND mission and key results of the Phase-0 study is currently being reviewed for publication and will be made publicly available in due course.
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Mission Team
The project team consists of solar physicists in the DIAS Astrophysics Section (Shane Maloney, Dale Weigt, Alberto Cañizares, Peter Gallagher, and Sophie Murray) and engineers in the University of Manchester’s Space Systems Research Group (Ciara McGrath, Nicholas Crisp, Alejandro Rojas).
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Publications
D. M. Weigt et al, The science behind SURROUND: a constellation of CubeSats around the Sun, Proceedings of PRE IX Conference, DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2308.04194.
N. H. Crisp et al, Technology Challenges of SURROUND: A Constellation of Small Satellites Around the Sun for Tracking Solar Radio Bursts, Proceedings of the AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, in press.
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