BAE Systems has integrated the ultraviolet spectrometer into the satellite bus of the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, marking the next major step in building the Earth-monitoring satellite for NASA.
The observatory is a small satellite designed around BAE’s configurable spacecraft platform and intended for use, once in orbit at Lagrange Point 1, in determining the Earth’s exosphere changes in response to space weather, the company said.
Carruthers will be the first satellite to conduct continuous exosphere observations using an advanced UV imager.
“This mission will allow us to better understand how our atmosphere interacts with the ever-changing conditions in space… Space weather has a significant impact on Earth,” remarked Alberto Conti, vice president and general manager of Civil Space for BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems. “This satellite will deliver a wealth of new data and better equip us to respond to whatever the Sun throws at us.”
The satellite will launch in 2025 as a rideshare component of NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe mission.