Researchers ready for a new space mission to shed light on Brazil’s vexing GPS problem

In sure areas of Brazil, do not be stunned in case your GPS system behaves erratically. For years, researchers have been scratching their heads, in search of an answer to the unreliable GPS indicators in areas close to the Amazon. The trigger? Plasma bubbles in space.

Subsequent week, NASA will launch a joint U.S.-Brazil satellite that shall be deployed from the Worldwide House Station, with scientific devices developed by Utah State College (USU) and collaborators. The aim of the mission is to analyze plasma bubbles that type excessive within the ionosphere over the equator.

Charles Swenson, a professor {of electrical} and laptop engineering at USU, has labored with Brazil’s Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica for years, growing the satellite and researching solutions to why this space of the globe is so extremely affected by the space climate phenomenon.

The Scintillation Prediction Commentary Analysis Activity, or SPORT, is a joint mission between america and Brazil designed to measure the state of the ionosphere, which lies 50 to 600 miles above Earth’s floor, and to find out why plasma bubbles generally type there.

The satellite, constructed by Brazil, is in regards to the dimension of two loaves of bread and hosts the scientific space climate measurements offered by the U.S. workforce of collaborators led by Swenson.

When radio waves from GPS satellites journey throughout plasma bubbles within the ionosphere, the indicators can grow to be distorted. This distortion is called scintillation, an issue that impacts GPS reliability and negatively impacts Brazil’s army, precision agriculture and automatic touchdown techniques on the nation’s airports.

Understanding the circumstances that result in plasma bubbles will assist electrical engineers design GPS know-how that’s much less prone to scintillation.

“The solutions to those questions can enhance the flexibility of researchers to foretell the formation of plasma bubbles and perceive the circumstances underneath which density anomalies develop within the ionosphere,” Swenson mentioned.

Radio receivers on the bottom in Brazil will report the scintillation sample on waves that go by means of the ionosphere and evaluate them to the satellite measurement of turbulent plasma in space.

Brazil is positioned underneath what is called the South Atlantic Anomaly or the South American Magnetic Anomaly, which happens when space radiation dips too near Earth because of a weak spot within the magnetic subject. Researchers need to know if this area is completely different than different equatorial websites for plasma bubbles.

Swenson and collaborators plan to make use of SPORT to use the identical procedures to different longitudes across the globe that may be affected by ionospheric irregularities as nicely. Swenson is the principal investigator on the Joint NASA-Brazil SPORT CubeSat mission to check the circumstances and potential triggers for plasma bubbles in space.

The Sport CubeSat mission is scheduled to launch no sooner than Nov. 21 from NASA’s Kennedy House Middle as part of the SpaceX-26 business resupply mission to the Worldwide House Station.