Matthew Nelson
SRI International announced Monday that they launched an experiment June 25 from Kennedy Space Center to support NASA’s efforts in the collection of atmospheric data. The Enhanced Tandem Beacon Experiment deployed two CubeSat small satellites along six COSMIC-2 satellites to transmit test signals and help researchers conduct a year-long study of radio beacon distortions caused by atmospheric bubbles, the company said Monday.
SRI noted that it seeks to use the experiment to observe the effects of space weather on navigation and communication platforms. Once E-TBEx completes its mission, researchers will analyze the collected data and implement their findings to update forecasting models and lower potential communication gaps.
“If we can better understand bubble generation and growth, then we can mitigate future interferences and bring an even greater degree of precision, reliability and safety to our communication systems,†said Roland Tsunoda, E-TBEx principal investigator at SRI.
