Observations of small‐scale latitudinal structure in energetic electron precipitation

We describe first‐light observations from the AC6 mission, a pair of CubeSats that are in polar orbit and whose in‐track separations range up to several hundred kilometers and whose separations are controlled by differential drag. We present temporal dose rate profiles from electrons greater than 35 keV that are very similar at the two vehicles, but offset in time by the GPS‐derived in‐track separation. We interpret these structures as spatial and propose that they are the result of multiple microbursts that have experienced bounce phase mixing and differential drift over a small fraction of a drift orbit before reaching the spacecraft.