GTOSat

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GTOSat

Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit Satellite

A CubeSat to study radiation belt dynamics from beyond LEO

Geostationary Transfer Orbit Satellite is a 6U CubeSat mission was developed to serve as a pathfinder for new radiation-tolerant technologies that could enable the deployment a constellation of small satellites beyond low-Earth orbit to gather simultaneous, multi-point measurements of Earth’s ever-changing magnetosphere. GTOSat’s primary goal is to advance the quantitative understanding of acceleration and loss of relativistic electrons in the Earth’s outer radiation belts.

Mission Class:

CubeSats

Mission Status:

Future

LASP Roles:

Research

Science Target:

Earth's Magnetosphere

Mission Focus:

Magnetosphere, Van Allen Belts

Primary Mission Site:

https://smallsat.wff.nasa.gov/missions/gtosat.php

Launch Date: 2026
Prime mission: 1 year

Lead Institute: Goddard Space Flight Center

Lead Funding Agency: NASA Heliophysics

Partners: Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, NASA Langley Research Center, Aerospace Corporation Inc.

GTOSat is targeting the severe radiation environment of geostationary transfer orbits. As a scientific mission, it is detecting very high energy particles with the goal of advancing our quantitative understanding of acceleration and loss of relativistic electrons in the Earth’s outer radiation belt. It will simultaneously measure electron spectra and pitch angles of both the seed and the energized electron populations, using a compact, high-heritage Relativistic Electron Magnetic Spectrometer, a miniaturized version of the RBSP’s (Van Allen Probe) MagEIS instrument. Also it carries a miniaturized version of magnetometers on MAVEN, Juno, PSP and Van Allen Probes.

LASP is a partner institution supporting research.