Development of a Robust Low-Power Pressure Transducer for Thermospheric Applications Project

<p> The Earth&rsquo;s ionosphere is home to a number of phenomena that are regularly observed but still unpredictable; obvious examples include equatorial spread F, tidal ion layers, and sporadic E. The fundamental connection between these disparate events is that all three are strongly influenced by coupling between ionized and neutral particles. Most of what we know about these phenomena comes from plasma diagnostics &ndash; we can accurately measure electric fields, plasma density, and plasma temperatures in the ionosphere using <em>in-situ </em>probes, ground-based radars, and optical remote sensing techniques.

Our ability to measure the neutral temperatures, densities, and motions at ionospheric altitudes is significantly less mature. We therefore propose to develop a low-power transducer system that will enable accurate measurements of neutral pressure and winds when assimilated into existing instrumentation systems. The low power aspect of this transducer concept is particularly important, since it is compatible with very small satellite platforms such as CubeSats.