The Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) is spacecraft launched April 16, 2008, into an inclined orbit with perigee/apogee of 400/700 km and a 95-minute period to monitor and forecast ionospheric scintillation in real-time and on a global scale. The DOD Space Test Program provides the spacecraft, launch vehicle, launch and first year on-orbit operations. The US Air Force Research Laboratory is responsible for the multi-instrument payload, payload integration and test, model development, data center operations, and product generation and distribution.

The C/NOFS carries three types of sensors:

• 1. In-situ ionospheric plasma property instruments,
• 2. Remote electron density GPS occultation sensor and imaging UV spectrographs, and
• 3. RF beacon and receiver for ionospheric scintillation detection.

The payload consists of six instruments:

• the Planar Langmuir Probe (PLP) for measurements of plasma density,
• the Vector Electric Field Instrument (VEFI) for measurements of vector electric and magnetic fields,
• the Ion Velocity Meter (IVM) for measurements of plasma drift velocities and ion temperatures,
• the Neutral Wind Meter (NWM) for measurements of neutral winds,
• the C/NOFS Occultation Receiver for Ionospheric Sensing and Specification (CORISS) for remote sensing of the electron density vertical profile,
• the Coherent Electromagnetic Radio Tomography (CERTO) for measurements of ionospheric scintillation parameters.

Both the Neutral Wind Meter (NWM) and the Ion Velocity Meter (IVM) are provided by NASA via the University of Texas at Dallas as the Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigation (CINDI) payload, which was selected as an Explorer Mission of Opportunity. The goal of C/NOFS is to forecast scintillation three to six hours before its onset such that system operators will be able to plan in ways that will optimize mission command and control.