The inner magnetosphere is extremely under-explored, and yet is of extremely high scientific as well as technical importance. ORBITALS will be a voyage of discovery which promises to offer Canadian scientists a previously hidden view of the inner magnetosphere. The ORBITALS will provide an opportunity for Canadian scientists to be rewarded with the international recognition bestowed as a result of understanding fundamentally new physics in near-Earth space.

ORBITALS is the key to understanding the dynamics of the radiation belts in the inner magnetosphere. ORBITALS will monitor the electron and ion populations in the inner magnetosphere across a wide range of energies. It will simultaneously monitor the dynamic electric and magnetic field as well as the inner magnetosphere cold plasma environment, which govern the injection, transport, acceleration and loss of these energetic and space weather critical particle populations.