PICASSO (satellite)

PICASSO (Pico-Satellite for Atmospheric and Space Science Observations) was a CubeSat mission for technology demonstration in atmospheric science, operated in low Earth orbit by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BISA) between 2022 and 2024.^[1][2] Its goal was to demonstrate measurements of ozone distribution in the stratosphere, temperature profile up to the mesosphere, and electron density in the ionosphere using a low-cost small satellite.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Its primary instrument was VISION, a hyper-spectral imager for observing the Earth's atmospheric limb during orbital Sun occultation.^[8] The other instrument was SLP, a multi-needle Langmuir probe.^[8][9][10]

PICASSO

Mission type	Atmospheric science
Operator	ESA
COSPAR ID	2020-061K
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	3U CubeSat
Manufacturer	Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, AAC Clyde Space
Start of mission
Launch date	3 September, 2020
Rocket	Vega
Launch site	Guiana Space Centre
End of mission
Decay date	13 April 2024
General Support Technology Programme (GSTP) ← SIMBA RadCube →

See also

• List of European Space Agency programmes and missions