Dynamic Ionosphere CubeSat Experiment

{{Short description|Cubesats studying space weather}}

The Dynamic Ionosphere CubeSat Experiment (DICE) is a scientific mission consisting of two Miniaturized Satellites DICE-1 and DICE-2 flying in formation.{{cite web|last=Krebs|first=Gunter D. |title=DICE 1, 2 (Yahtzee, Farkle)|publisher=Gunter's Space Page|access-date=December 10, 2022|url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/dice.htm}} The satellites are an unusual 1.5U variant of the CubeSat design for microsatellites. Both satellites were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in October 2011 atop a Delta II rocket. This was a multi-payload mission with four other CubeSats, AubieSat-1, M-Cubed, Explorer-1_Prime and RAX-2.{{cite news|url=https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/10/live-delta-ii-launch-npp-satellite-nasa-and-noaa/|title=Delta II successfully launches NPP satellite on behalf of NASA and NOAA|first=William |last=Graham |date=October 28, 2011|publisher=NASASpaceflight.com|access-date=December 9, 2022}}

The satellites are intended to map changes in the Earth's Plasmasphere caused by Geomagnetic storms.{{cite web|url=https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/dice-1-and-2#eop-quick-facts-section|title=Satellite Missions Catalogue: DICE (Dynamic Ionosphere CubeSat Experiment)|publisher=eoPortal.org|access-date=December 9, 2022}}

On board control is provided by a Pumpkin FM430 flight control module containing a Texas Instruments MPS430 microcontroller. Communications are provided by a half-duplex UHF modem with a 1.5 Mbit/s downlink (465 MHz) and 19.2 kbit/s uplink (450 MHz). The satellites carry four Electric Field Probe sensors on telescopic booms, two DC Langmuir probes for detection of ions and a three-axis magnetometer for measuring magnetic fields.{{cite report| last=Burr|first=Steven Reed|title=The Design and Implementation of the Dynamic Ionosphere Cubesat Experiment (Dice) Science Instruments" |date=2013|url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/1770|access-date=December 9, 2022}}