A Fractionated Space Weather Base at L5 using CubeSats and Solar Sails

The Sun–Earth L

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Lagrange point is an ideal location for an operational space weather forecasting mission to provide early warning of Earth-directed solar storms (coronal mass ejections, shocks and associated solar energetic particles). Such storms can cause damage to power grids, spacecraft, communications systems and astronauts, but these effects can be mitigated if early warning is received. Space weather missions at L

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have been proposed using conventional spacecraft and chemical propulsion at costs of hundreds of millions of dollars. Here we describe a mission concept that could accomplish many of the goals at a much lower cost by dividing the payload among a cluster of interplanetary CubeSats that reach orbits around L

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using solar sails.