Development and mission objectives of ESA's Aurora mission

Under the Space Safety Programme (S2P) and as part of the European Space Agency's D3S (Distributed Space Weather Sensor System), ESA's Space Weather Office has conducted the mission studies and pre-developments of a small satellite mission constellation that shall monitor the Auroral Oval for operational space weather applications. The observation of the Sun's activity and its interaction with the Earth through the monitoring of the Aurora is considered to become a core element of future Space Weather (SWE) monitoring systems, through the observation of the corresponding Auroral emissions and of the underlying particle and geo-magnetic state conditions. The foreseen demonstration mission (Aurora-D) follows a novel approach initially using a single small satellite focused on Auroral Oval imaging, followed by a constellation mission (Aurora-C) of SmallSats in a later period, enabling continuous (24/7) monitoring of the Auroral oval from a MEO orbit that is expected to be accessible and affordable only by a micro-launcher. 

The core instrumentation of Aurora consists of the Auroral Optical Spectral Imager (AOSI) covering several emission lines emitted in the visible spectral range, and the Auroral UV Imager (AUI) that will address two bands in the far UV spectral range. Furthermore, a modular instrument combining several radiation monitors and magnetometers (RadMag) is baselined as a secondary payload to monitor magnetic field dynamics and the radiation environment. The instruments are based on recent developments employing new technologies that will be deployed to space for the first time. A constellation of four satellites in MEO orbit is envisaged on the long-term. The Aurora-D demonstrator mission, is now under development to pave the way for a future operational constellation. We will present the mission objectives, observational concept and the measurements that are expected to be provided by the instruments. We will also give an outlook towards the products that could be developed in the future.