# An Overview of CubeSat Missions and Applications
## 8 The Use of CubeSats in Novel Technology Demonstration Missions
### Space Environment and Radiation Testing  
Moving on to CubeSats focused on demonstrating and testing of space environment and radiation, these satellites can test and validate the performance of radiation hardened components, error mitigation algorithms and technologies, as well as a variety of different shielding techniques. This way, radiation tolerant electronic systems can be tested in the real space environment in a cost effective and efficient manner before being incorporated into larger platforms and more complex space missions. One notable mission is Dellingr, which can be seen in Figure 24a, a 6U CubeSat launched in August 2017 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 [311]. The primary mission focused on demonstrating and enhancing the reliability of small satellite platforms while also conducting space weather research. It was constructed containing both COTS and custom hardware with the main objective of ensuring high reliability. Dellingr contained to primary scientific instruments, the Ion-Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) and a miniaturized fluxgate magnetometer system. The INMS was used to study space weather phenomena by measuring the composition in ion and neutral particles in the thermosphere and ionosphere. The fluxgate magnetometers, with two of them placed inside the CubeSat and one on a deployable boom, were designed to test the magnetic field variations; also, they tested a software-based interference compensation technique targeting of replacing the external booms in future missions. The INMS succeeded in collecting atmospheric data, the fluxgate magnetometers provided useful data and validated the uses compensation technique, and overall, Dellingr maintained higher reliability in comparison with other CubeSats. Another mission studying the radiation belt is the Compact Radiation Belt Explorer (CeREs) [312]. Launched in July 2018, this 3U CubeSat was developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in collaboration with the Southwest Research Institute to study the acceleration and loss of high energy electrons in the Van Allen Belt and the transport of solar energetic particles into Earth's magnetosphere. With the primary goal of improving our understanding of space weather phenomena impacting satellites, CeREs was equipped with the Miniaturized Electron and Proton Telescope (MERiT), a compact particle detector capable of detecting suprathermal to relativistic electrons (approximately 5 keV-8 MeV) and energetic protons (approximately 200 keV-100 MeV).This mission successfully demonstrated high-cadence electron measurements in high resolution, confirming that microbursts are a dominant mechanism for loss in radiation belt electrons, as well as provided insight on how protons with high energy penetrate Earth's magnetosphere. Another notable mission is TRISAT-R (also denoted as TRISAT 2), a 3U CubeSat developed by the University of Maribor in collaboration with SkyLabs (Maribor, Slovenia) under the coordination of ESA and the Slovenian Ministry of Economy [313; 314]. TRISAT-R can be seen in Figure 24b and it was tasked with the mission of investigating and mapping ionizing radiation in MEO by using several scientific instruments. Furthermore, the satellite was tasked with testing and demonstrating AI algorithms on high-performance COTS electronics and error mitigation techniques in the high ionizing radiation environment of MEO. TRISAT-R was launched on 13 July 2022 and remains operational as of mid-2025 with no critical radiation-based anomaly having so far been observed, its longevity serving as a testimony to the effectiveness of the radiation hardening measures applied. Another similar example is MTCube 2, a 1U CubeSat developed by the University of Montpellier under the mission of measuring the rate and mapping the distribution of errors on different types of memory storage due to radiation exposure in space over a period of two months [315].  
Figure 24: (**a**) Dellingr CubeSat, seen in the lab before launch. Image credit: NASA [316]**(b**)** TRISAT-R. Image credit: Skylabs [317].