The Grand Challenge Initiative (GCI) – Cusp is a series of international sounding rocket missions planned for launch in 2018-2019. Together, the rockets provide unprecedented coordinated studies of near-Earth space at the polar regions. In addition to helping us understand the fundamental processes of our neighborhood in space, such knowledge is needed for safe navigation and communication near the poles, where solar activity can disrupt radio signals.
Eight missions with 11 rockets will launch from two sites in Norway — Andøya Space Center and Svalbard Rocket Range. The first mission — a NASA mission called the Auroral Zone Upwelling Rocket Experiment, or AZURE — launches in March 2018.
In addition to AZURE, VISIONS-2 and ICI-5, other NASA Grand Challenge missions are the Twin Rockets to Investigate Cusp Electrodynamics or TRICE-2 (led by the University of Iowa, launching December 2018), The Cusp Alfven and Plasma Electrodynamics Rocket or CAPER-2 (led by Dartmouth University, launching January 2019), and the Cusp-Region Experiment or C-REX 2 (led by the University of Alaska, launching November 2019), which also includes three Canadian instruments from the University of Calgary (also flying on VISIONS-2).The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will fly the SS-520-3 in January 2019, which investigates the ion outflow mechanism in the cusp.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will fly the SS-520-3 in January 2019, which investigates the ion outflow mechanism in the cusp.
October 6, 2021 (JST)Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will conduct the launch experiment of the SS-520-3 sounding rocket in cooperation with Norwegian Space Agency (NOSA) as follows.1. Experiment periodWednesday, November 3, 2021 – Tuesday, November 16, 2021 (including the preliminary period)2. Experiment locationAndøya Space Center, Svalbard Rocket Range (Norway)3. Launch vehicleSS-520-34. Scheduled experiment date and timeWednesday, November 3, 2021, 6:00 - 10:00 AM (Central European Time, CET) 2:00 - 6:00 PM (Japan Standard Time, JST)5. Experiment summaryThe purpose of this launch experiment is to elucidate the plasma outflow phenomena in the cusp region. The sounding rocket SS-520-3 will carry the equipment for observing electrons, ion, and electromagnetic fields and be launched to the cusp area. The radar and the aurora imaging cameras will also be used for the observation on the ground.This launch campaign is one of the nine missions planned and carried out by the Grand Challenge Initiative Cusp (GCI), an international joint observation project investigating the geomagnetic cusp region of the ionosphere.
SS-520-3 launch delayed due to bad weather: