Linda Habash Krause (ST13) was invited to present MSFC’s Charge Analyzer Responsive to Local Oscillations (CARLO) instrument as a science payload candidate for the Brazilian-led ITASAT-2 mission. The Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) led the workshop, which included James Spann, Chief Scientist of the Heliophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA HQ, as a session Chair. The two-day workshop (9/23-24/21) included sessions on the ITASAT-2 team-member space weather science research areas and candidate instruments for the mission concept of a 3-satellite constellation to study ionospheric plasma irregularities and their impacts on space-based communication and navigation systems.
The 45-minute CARLO presentation was comprised of an overview of the MSFC development and the laboratory testing results of its Engineering Development Unit in relevant plasma environments in three different MSFC plasma chambers. The CARLO test data, which demonstrated the capability to measure ion density and temperature oscillations up to 2.4 kHz and 1.0 kHz, respectively, was well-received by the ITASAT-2 leadership team. Krause has the follow-up action to submit a questionnaire outlining the capabilities and mission requirements of the CARLO instrument for consideration as a candidate payload on ITASAT-2. The CARLO was developed and functionally tested through MSFC’s Technology Investment Program (TIP).