Professors Allison Jaynes and David Miles from the University of Iowa’s Department of Physics and Astronomy will provide instrumentation for the LabOratory for the Behavior of the SloT Region (LOBSTR) mission. 

This mission aims to study energetic particles in the slot region is the region in between Earth’s two radiation belts. This area can be devoid of particles, but geomagnetic storms or solar activity can inject particles into this region. NASA’s Van Allen Probes mission observed this region for many years but could only make observations of only a small region of the radiation belts. LOBSTR aims to use multiple CubeSats, spaced out around Earth to get a more comprehensive picture of when and how particles enter this slot region.

Jaynes and Miles will provide critical guidance to Principal Investigator Rachael Filwett, assistant professor at Montana State University. Using a $26,822 grant from NASA, Prof. Jaynes will oversee the design of particle instruments, while Prof. Miles will focus on magnetic field instruments. Both will be actively involved in mission planning activities at NASA Wallops, including requirements definition, payload planning, and orbit analysis, ensuring the mission’s scientific goals are met.

In 2022, NASA's Heliophysics Flight Opportunity Studies Program awarded Filwett a $149,939 grant for the LOBSTR mission. Before going to Montana State, Fillwett was a postdoctoral researcher at the UI and worked with co-PIs Jaynes and Miles to secure the grant.