Atmospheric Observational Capability on Commercial Reusable Launch Vehicles

Developed at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Applied Physics Lab (APL), the JHU APL Integrated Universal Suborbital (JANUS) platform is designed to allow the integration of different sensors to observe spaceflight conditions during suborbital flight altitudes. The JANUS-TEC: Establishing an Atmospheric Observational Capability on Commercial Reusable Launch Vehicles test aims to accurately perform total electron content (TEC) observations of the ionosphere while integrated into New Shepard, Blue Origin’s reusable suborbital rocket. TEC variability needed for climate change models is difficult to measure because the ionosphere is too high for balloons and aircraft but too low for satellites, but commercial suborbital reusable launch vehicles (sRLVs) could offer a suitable platform Additionally, TEC observations could improve communications and navigation systems accuracy. The flight test is expected to establish, evaluate, and verify the TEC observational capability of JANUS. 

Problem Statement TEC variability in the ionosphere is a component of modeling climate change. This region of the atmosphere is difficult to reach and study through in-situ observations. The use of sRLVs could offer the opportunity to perform TEC observations from a moving platform, providing numerous lines of sight to multiple GPS satellites over the course of a single flight. This collection of observations could then be used to augment data sets collected by ground-based and low-Earth orbiting GPS receivers to produce a 3D tomographic map of electron content. 

Flight provider launch cadence has exponentially increased over the last few years, and providers are now considering launching from a variety of locations. Low-cost, ride-along measurements on flights near regions where the ionosphere is not well understood offers the potential of establishing a significant TEC database that could provide insight into the atmospheric physics in these regions. 

Technology Maturation This flight test is expected to establish, evaluate, and verify TEC observational capability for internal and external payloads. Researchers aim to advance this innovation’s technology readiness level (TRL) to TRL 8 and establish ionospheric observational capability on future suborbital flights. This work is a continuation of previous flight testing under T0015-S, T0022-S, T0076-S, T0114-S, T0196-S, T0231-S, and T0254-S. 

Summary of September 18, 2025 Flight Test 
The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory successfully flight tested the JANUS-TEC experiment onboard the Blue Origin New Shepard Crew Capsule. The goal of this flight test is to establish a capability to measure ionospheric Total Electron Content on commercial suborbital flight missions as well as compare the measurement quality to traditional ground-based observations. The result will be a capability to make serendipitous low-cost ionospheric observations on all future commercial suborbital flights.

- Expansive data set: Offers insight into Earth’s ionosphere 
- Cost efficient: Provides low-cost, ride-along measurements 
- High performance: Improves communications and navigation systems accuracy 

Future Customers 
- Established supplemental TEC measurements could be used by: 
- Research institutions 
- Atmospheric, ionospheric, climate, and heliospheric scientists 
- Spacecraft providers 
- Other organizational suborbital flights

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 6) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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