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The primary objective of the mission is to monitor the ionospheric scintillation of the aurora, and to perform several technological demonstrations. The satellite incorporates several novel systems, including a deployable Fresnel Zone Plate Antenna (FZPA), an integrated PocketQube deployer, a dual-receiver GNSS board for radio occultation and reflectometry experiments, and a polarimetric multi-spectral imager for auroral emission observations. The mission design, the suite of payloads, and the concept of operations are described in detail. This paper discusses the current development status of 3Cat-8, with several subsystems already developed and others in the final design phase. It is expected that the data gathered by 3Cat-8 will contribute to a better understanding of ionospheric effects on radio wave propagation and demonstrate the feasibility of compact remote sensors in a CubeSat platform.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs16224199","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,11]],"date-time":"2024-11-11T11:34:11Z","timestamp":1731324851000},"page":"4199","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["3Cat-8 Mission: A 6-Unit CubeSat for Ionospheric Multisensing and Technology Demonstration Test-Bed"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5379-4778","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luis","family":"Contreras-Benito","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"CommSensLab-UPC, Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya, Carrer de Jordi Girona 31, 08034 Barcelona, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3473-7900","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ksenia","family":"Osipova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CommSensLab-UPC, Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya, Carrer de Jordi Girona 31, 08034 Barcelona, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1743-2312","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jeimmy Nataly","family":"Buitrago-Leiva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CommSensLab-UPC, Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya, Carrer de Jordi Girona 31, 08034 Barcelona, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4301-845X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guillem","family":"Gracia-Sola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CommSensLab-UPC, Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya, Carrer de Jordi Girona 31, 08034 Barcelona, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-2716-3573","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesco","family":"Coppa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CommSensLab-UPC, Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya, Carrer de Jordi Girona 31, 08034 Barcelona, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Torino, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-7760-2505","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pau","family":"Climent-Salazar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CommSensLab-UPC, Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya, Carrer de Jordi Girona 31, 08034 Barcelona, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-6313-6098","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paula","family":"Sopena-Coello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CommSensLab-UPC, Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya, Carrer de Jordi Girona 31, 08034 Barcelona, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-3168-8383","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Diego","family":"Garc\u00edn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CommSensLab-UPC, Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya, Carrer de Jordi Girona 31, 08034 Barcelona, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9413-2001","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juan","family":"Ramos-Castro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electronic Engineering, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya, Carrer de Jordi Girona 31, 08034 Barcelona, Spain"},{"name":"Institut d\u2019Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), C\/ Gran Capit\u00e0 2-4, bld. Nexus, 201, 08034 Barcelona, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9514-4992","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adriano","family":"Camps","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CommSensLab-UPC, Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya, Carrer de Jordi Girona 31, 08034 Barcelona, Spain"},{"name":"Institut d\u2019Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), C\/ Gran Capit\u00e0 2-4, bld. Nexus, 201, 08034 Barcelona, Spain"},{"name":"College of Engineering, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box, Al Ain 15551, United Arab Emirates"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"83971","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2022.3194050","article-title":"Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Through Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellites: A Survey on Current Status, Challenges, and Opportunities","volume":"10","author":"Prol","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ries, L., Limon, M.C., Grec, F.C., Anghileri, M., Prieto-Cerdeira, R., Abel, F., Miguez, J., Perello-Gisbert, J.V., D\u2019Addio, S., and Ioannidis, R. (2023, January 24\u201327). LEO-PNT for Augmenting Europe\u2019s Space-based PNT Capabilities. 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