CubeSat Ion Velocity Meter

CubeSats are a new generation of low cost satellites built out of standard sized cubes measuring 10 x 10 x 10 cm. The Ion Velocity Meter (IVM) is a satellite-based instrument that measures properties of the local plasma environment, including plasma density, temperature, constituent ions, and three-dimensional velocity vector. Originally designed for full sized satellites, CubeSats lack the available mass, power, and volume for a typical IVM. The CubeSat IVM pictured below merges multiple instruments together to produce a full suite of measurements with only a single entrance aperture (opening to plasma). The background instrument comes from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) IVM. While the CubeSat IVM is self-contained, the heritage DMSP instrument requires both the gold plated piece, as well as multiple electronics support boxes.

The CubeSat IVM was first launched on the SORTIE CubeSat aboard CRS-19 on December 5, 2019 and then deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on February 10, 2020