AFRL partners with NASA in CubeSat navigation, communication mission
A sensor experiment named Gridded Retarding Ion Drift Sensor deploys from the International Space Station Dec. 29, 2022. The sensor, developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate is hosted on NASA’s six-unit cube satellite petitSat, or Plasma Enhancements in the Ionosphere-Thermosphere Satellite. PetitSat will study a layer in Earth’s upper atmosphere known as the ionosphere to provide insight on space weather disturbances and their impact on navigation and communication systems. NASA's Heliophysics SPORT CubeSat, also studying the ionosphere, is seen in the top left corner.