Sunstorm

Sunstorm, ESA’s latest technology CubeSat, with its power-giving solar arrays, was launched on Vega flight VV19 on 16 August 2021 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana for its space weather detection mission.

CubeSats are miniaturised satellites based on standardised 10 cm boxes. This ‘2-unit’ CubeSat will fly an innovative solar X-ray spectrometer to detect the X-ray pulses produced by coronal mass ejections – massive eruptions of many millions of tons of material from the Sun’s surface. These give rise in turn to solar storms, threatening potentially harmful effects on satellites and terrestrial power and communications networks, even aircraft on polar flights.

The Finnish-led instrument was developed by ISAWARE, Aboa Space Research Oy, Oxford Instruments Technologies and Talvioja Consulting. Its host CubeSat was manufactured by Finland’s Reaktor Space Lab.

The instrument and mission have been funded by Business Finland and the Fly element of ESA’s General Support Technology Programme, dedicated to the early space testing of promising new technologies.