GREECE, the Ground-to-Rocket Electrodynamics-Electrons Correlative Experiment, is a NASA sounding rocket campaign designed to study the electromagnetic processes behind dynamic auroral displays. The goal of the GREECE mission was to make high resolution rocket and ground-based investigations of small-scale auroral structure and dynamics. The aurora is one of the most dramatic open-air manifestations of electrodynamics on Earth. The auroral light, produced by energetic electrons incident on the atmosphere, represents the end product of complex electromagnetic processes which occur further out along the Earth's magnetic field. The scientific instruments on-board the sounding rocket were designed and fabricated by SwRI and the [...]

CubeSats SwRI is involved in a number of NASA CubeSats with the goal of providing low-cost platforms for space-based experiments. CubeSats are small, modular satellites, typically with only one or two scientific instruments, that piggy-back on larger satellite launches. CERES The Compact Radiation BElt Explorer (CeREs) is a 3U CubeSat that is part of NASA's Low-Cost Access to Space program. CeREs will primarily be focusing on radiation belt electrons, studying the energization and loss processes of these electrons, low-energy seed populations for the radiation belts, and microbursts. A secondary science goal for CeREs is the [...]

CASSINI The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft became the first satellite to enter Saturn's orbit and has changed our understanding of magnetospheric dynamics in large rotating planets and discovered wonders like the geologically active satellite Enceladus, which ejects water/ice through vents under its surface. The Cassini mission to Saturn has been actively collecting data since 2004 and still continues to make new discoveries. Cassini will soon be approaching a polar orbit similar to Juno's around Jupiter, which will provide an unsurpassed comparative study of the two largest planets in our solar system. SwRI has been heavily involved in the study of plasma and neutral [...]

BepiColombo BepiColombo is the first European Space Agency (ESA) mission to Mercury. This mission is a joint venture between the ESA and the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), with contributions from US institutions through NASA. The spacecraft consists of two orbiters, the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, that will study different regions of the Hermean magnetosphere and upper atmosphere simultaneously. The main goal of BepiColombo is to advance our understanding of the composition, geophysics, atmosphere, magnetosphere and history of Mercury, home to one of the solar system's smallest but highly dynamic magnetospheres. The BepiColombo mission is slated to launch [...]