The Outer Radiation Belt Injection, Transport, Acceleration, and Loss Satellite is the key to understanding the dynamics of the radiation belts in the inner magnetosphere.

The outer radiation belt injection, transport acceleration and loss satellite (ORBITALS) a Canadian small satellite proposed as a Canadian mission contribution to the International Living with a Star (ILWS) program. The ORBITALS is an inner magnetosphere mission which targets the dynamics of the radiation belts, plasmasphere and ring current. The ORBITALS is currently undergoing a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) funded Concept Study, which will be completed by March 31st 2005. For further details about the mission, contact the Principal Investigator Dr. Ian Mann from the Department of Physics at the University of Alberta.

The ORBITALS mission will provide a unique view of the largely previously unexplored inner magnetosphere. In combination with the approved NASA LWS Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), the ORBITALS-RBSP constellation will have the necessary spatial coverage to resolve the spatio-temporal ambiguities and global dynamics and morphology of the Earths radiation belts. The mission goal to "understand the acceleration, global distribution, and variability of energetic electrons and ions in the inner magnetosphere" is perfectly aligned with the top geospace priority for the LWS and ILWS programs. In a 12 hour orbit, the ORBITALS satellite will come into daily conjunctions with the ground-based Canadian Geospace Monitoring (CGSM) instrumentation. The ORBITALS meets the plea from the LWS Mission Operations Working Group for the international provision of additional probe coverage to complement the RBSP within LWS. ORBITALS will hence provide Canada with a unique leadership role at the forefront of the highest priority science goals for ILWS.