CURIE in cleanroom

CURIE pair in cleanroom 

CURIE, the CUbesat Radio Interferometry Experiment from NASA, is a payload launching on Ariane 6’s first flight. CURIE will measure radio waves coming from the Sun and other radio sources in the sky. Such waves must be measured in space, as they are absorbed by Earth’s ionosphere – a region extending 30 to 600 miles above Earth’s surface composed of ionized (charged) gases and created as solar radiation interacts with the upper atmosphere.

CURIE is made up of two spacecraft that will launch bolted together as one, later separating into two in orbit. From their separate vantage points, the satellites CURIE A and B will make it possible to measure the same radio waves from two locations at the same time. Using the technique of radio ‘interferometric analysis,’ the origin of detected radio waves can be reconstructed.

The principal science objective for CURIE is to use radio ‘interferometry’ to study radio burst emissions from solar eruptions, such as flares and coronal mass ejections in the inner heliosphere. These events drive space weather, its influence being felt on Earth and other planets when they occur, in increasing auroral activity and geomagnetic effects.