Name

REAL

Satellite ID

ZNYX-2468-9597-3161-5205

NORAD ID

64875

Website

http://www.ssel.montana.edu/projects/real.html

Country of Origin

United States of America

Launch Date

2025-07-22T18:13:00+00:00

Deploy Date

2025-07-22T19:07:50+00:00

The overarching objective for the REAL CubeSat is to improve our understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible for scattering radiation belt electrons into the atmosphere. REAL's mission will characterize different modes of atmospheric loss by making precision measurements of the electron pitch angle and energy distributions in low Earth orbit over a wide energy range (keV to MeV). With this, REAL will determine when and where different modes of electron precipitation loss occur, how they depend on energy, and what relative impact they have on the radiation belts. These objectives help develop the knowledge and capability to detect and predict extreme conditions in space in order to further help protect life and society as well as safeguard human and robotic explorers beyond Earth.