Sunstorm Spacecraft - Nanosats Database

Name	Sunstorm (XFM Cube, XFM CubeSat, Sunstorm-1, Sun-Storm)
Type	CubeSat
Units or mass	2U
Status	Reentry 2024-09-05. Was operational? (Official post on ESA website on 2022-11-17 but possibly retired in September 2022)
Launched	2021-08-17
NORAD ID	49068
Deployer	PSL / PSL-P (Picosatellite Launcher) [Astrofein]
Launcher	Vega (VV19)
Entity name	ESA (European Space Agency)
Institution	Space agency
Entity type	Government (Civil / Military)
Country	Finland
Manufacturer	AIVT by Kuva Space
Partners	ESA (European Space Agency), ISAWARE, Reaktor Space Lab, ASRO, Oxford Instruments Technologies, Talvioja Consulting
Oneliner	Solar X-ray Flux Monitor to monitor solar x-ray flares.
Description	Solar X-ray Flux Monitor. In-orbit demonstration of the technology using reduced resources in preparation for a fully space-qualified version some years from now. XFM is needed for the detection of solar X-ray flares; one of the most energetic phenomena on the Sun giving rise to Space Weather phenomena in the heliosphere up to the Earth’s distance and beyond.
Results	The SUNSTORM satellite’s XFM instrument is capable of measuring high-energy electrons and detected even a 10 times higher electron flow values than normally in the SUNSTORM satellite’s 540 km high orbit well in advance of the geomagnetic storm which hit the Starlinks. In short, the satellite’s measurements showed that the eruption in question was both exceptionally long-lasting and clearly more energetic than normally. These properties are not detected with currently used instruments. This added information would have been crucial in predicting the magnitude of the upcoming geomagnetic storm.
Sources	[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
Photo sources	[1] [2] [3] [4]
COTS subsystems	PLATFORM - Reaktor Space PAYLOAD - Isaware X-ray Flux Monitor (XFM)
Subsystems sources	[1] [2]
On the same launch	BRO-4 LEDSAT RADCUBE Sunstorm

Last modified: 2024-09-29