The IMpulsive Phase Rapid Energic Solar Spectrometer CubeSat mission

The IMpulsive Phase Rapid Energetic Solar Spectrometer (IMPRESS) is a 3U NSF-Funded CubeSat mission under development by a student-focused team at UMN in collaboration with MSU, UCSC, and SwRI; it will measure X-rays from solar flares at a 30 Hz cadence.

Hard X-ray emission (HXR) from solar flares can be analyzed to explore flare particle acceleration dynamics. Prior studies using Fermi/GBM and RHESSI data have found fast HXR flux variations on timescales of < 10s, but no lower limit to the durations of these limitations has yet been uncovered. The IMpulsive Phase Rapid Energetic Solar Spectrometer (IMPRESS) is designed to observe both soft X-ray (4 to 12 keV) and hard X-ray (10 to 300 keV) emission from solar flares with tens-of-millisecond time resolution to better constrain the timescales of HXR spikes and associated acceleration mechanisms. IMPRESS will measure C1 through X1 GOES class flares with no moving attenuators.

This poster will present an overview of the CubeSat, with an emphasis on its scientific instrumentation. It will also present analytical and Monte Carlo (Geant4) modeling results in the context of our science goals.