Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) from SAGE III on the ISS to a Free Flying SAGE IV Cubesat

Abstract

The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE III) on the International Space Station (ISS) is widely accepted as a stable source for high-quality stratospheric ozone, aerosol, and water vapor measurements since it was installed on the ISS in 2017. The ISS is a unique platform that provides access for hosted payloads while furnishing infrastructure for power, uplink, downlink, etc. for instrument operations. The opportunities, risks, and challenges from operating on the ISS are described in addition to comprehensive lessons learned. In addition, SAGE IV is presented as an option for the future of the SAGE lineage where the lessons learned from SAGE III and technological advances have enabled the instrument to fit into a 6U CubeSat yielding a significantly smaller and cheaper form-factor to preserve the continuity of critical atmospheric measurements.

Keywords

• stratosphere
• ozone
• aerosol
• ISS
• SAGE III
• SAGE IV