The CASSIOPE/Swarm-E satellite
“CAScade, Smallsat and IOnospheric Polar Explorer” (CASSIOPE) is a made-in-Canada small satellite from the Canadian Space Agency. It is comprised of three working elements that use the first multi-purpose small satellite platform from the Canadian Small Satellite Bus Program. In 2018, CASSIOPE joined the European Space Agency’s Swarm mission as Swarm-Echo (or Swarm-E for short), adding a fourth element to the Swarm triple satellite constellation. The generic, low-cost platform of CASSIOPE/Swarm-Echo carries two payloads: e-POP, a scientific payload consisting of eight high-resolution instruments used to probe the characteristics of near-Earth space, and Cascade, a high data rate, high capacity store and forward technology payload from MDA Corporation.
Together, e-POP and Cascade achieve both a scientific and a commercial objective: e-POP is providing scientists with unprecedented details about the Earth’s ionosphere, thermosphere, and magnetosphere, helping scientists understand the cause and effects of potentially dangerous space weather, while Cascade demonstrated a new digital communications ‘courier’ service provided by MDA. Cascade was decommissioned in late 2015.
CASSIOPE is hexagonal in shape, measuring just 180 cm corner-to-corner and 125 cm high and weighing in at just over 500 kg. Primary partners in the mission have included the University of Calgary, the Communications Research Center in Ottawa, Magellan Aerospace of Winnipeg, and MDA of Richmond, B.C., the prime contractor for the overall mission.
See also the CASSIOPE/e-POP quick fact sheet.
