[P-CG20] Future missions and instrumentation for space and planetary science

[PCG20-13] IMPACT Project: A Microsatellite Mission to Investigate Ducting Magnetospheric Plasma Wave Activity

★Invited Papers

*Shoya Matsuda¹, Satoshi Yagitani¹, Daisuke Yonetoku¹, Yoshiya Kasahara¹, Tomohiko Imachi¹, Yasuhiro Shoji¹, Tatsuya Sawano¹, Makoto Arimoto¹, Mitsunori Ozaki¹, Mariko Kimura¹, Yuto Katoh², Atsushi Kumamoto², Satoshi Kasahara³, Hirotsugu Kojima⁴, Satoshi Kurita⁴, Yoshiharu Omura⁴, Yoshizumi Miyoshi⁵, Mariko Teramoto⁶, Kentarou Kitamura⁶, Shinji Saito⁷, Iku Shinohara⁸, Kazushi Asamura⁸, Takefumi Mitani⁸ (1.Kanazawa University, 2.Tohoku University, 3.The University of Tokyo, 4.Kyoto University, 5.Nagoya University, 6.Kyushu Institute of Technology, 7.NICT, 8.ISAS/JAXA)

Keywords:Microsatellite mission, Plasma waves, Space weather

The IMPACT project is a microsatellite project aimed at clarifying the formation mechanisms of density ducts in the terrestrial inner magnetosphere and wave-particle interactions induced by plasma waves propagating through these ducts. This project was selected for the JAXA-SMASH (JAXA-Small Satellite Rush) Program in February 2025, and the development of the microsatellite is ongoing by early 2027. This satellite is a W6U-size CubeSat and carries three scientific instruments: a small plasma wave detector (DPS), a small high-energy electron detector (LEON), and a small impedance probe (NEI). This instrument suite provides direct measurements of the density duct structure, plasma waves propagating through the ducts, and radiation belt electrons scattered by electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves traveling through the ducts. The satellite system is controlled by AI-OBC, which is an onboard computer equipped with a dynamically reconfigurable processor. AI-OBC enables high-speed inference using deep learning models in space to detect duct structures and plasma waves. In this study, we will introduce the overview of the IMPACT project and the latest updates.