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www.southgatearc.org
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Firefly CubeSat to study thunderstormsSlated for launch in 2010/11 the Hawk Institute for Space Sciences 3U CubeSat Firefly will make measurements of the radio wave and optical signatures of lightning discharges. High-energy bursts of gamma rays typically occur far out in space, perhaps near black holes or other high-energy cosmic phenomena. So imagine scientists' surprise in the mid-1990s when they found these powerful gamma ray flashes happening right here on Earth, in the skies overhead. They're called Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes, or TGFs, and very little is known about them. They seem to have a connection with lightning, but TGFs themselves are something entirely different. Individual particles in a TGF acquire a huge amount of energy, sometimes in excess of 20 mega-electron volts (MeV). In contrast, the colorful auroras that light up the skies at high latitudes are powered by particles with less than one thousandth as much energy. The tiny Firefly CubeSat will cost less than $1 million — about 100 times cheaper than what satellite missions normally cost. Part of the cost savings comes from launching Firefly under the National Science Foundation's CubeSat program, which launches small satellites as "stowaways" aboard rockets carrying larger satellites into space, rather than requiring dedicated rocket launches. Firefly will carry a 2 watt transmitter operating in the 401 MHz band. Read the NASA story at FireFly Communications Plan CubeSat High-Speed Data Downlink Google Group Firefly CubeSat Hawk Institute for Space Sciences
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