The NSF Firefly CubeSat mission: Rideshare mission to study energetic electrons produced by lightning

The NSF Firefly CubeSat is a 3U mission designed to perform cutting-edge science, as a secondary payload <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1,2</sup> . Firefly will be the first dedicated mission launched to study Terrestrial Gamma ray Flashes (TGFs), their link to lightning, and their effect in producing energetic electrons that may become stably trapped in the inner radiation belt. Firefly demonstrates the capability of small missions such as CubeSat to do important, focused science, with maximal student involvement, and with a minimal budget and available resources. This presentation will focus on the Firefly mission design, as well as important lessons learned in the development, testing, and design. Future developments in CubeSat-class spacecraft for measurements of energetic radiation will be discussed.