Determining the accuracy and feasibility of measuring atmospheric density in the ionosphere through a nanosatellite

Abstract

Atmospheric research impacts various sectors such as commercial aviation activities, maritime transport, climatological analysis, and space research, among others. Knowing the atmospheric density of the ionosphere is useful in space research because is the principal perturbation in aircrafts to follow a pure geodesic orbit. Nowadays, there are models to estimate atmospheric density, such as the Jacchia-Bowman model. However, there are very few measurements of this parameter in situ. On the other hand, currently, there is great interest in the space industry for the development and deployment of nanosatellites as low-cost instruments that can be used to carry out scientific research and validation of new developments. In this work, the necessary requirements for the design of a nanosatellite as a tool for the study of the ionosphere are analyzed and determined, as well as its limitations and the necessary processes to carry out a mission that provides useful information. Said contributions include the contribution of information for the improvement of the different atmospheric models such as the Jacchia-Bowman that will help us with the nanosatellite mission.