WindCube is a 6U CubeSat mission selected for implementation through NASA’s HFORT program. Starting in 2022 and following ~36 months of development, integration and testing, the spacecraft will operate for ~12 months in low earth orbit to study the influence of thermospheric winds on the earth’s ionosphere. Its scientific payload is a limb viewing Fabry Pérot Interferometer (étalon) specially designed to fit into a 10cm x 10cm cross-sectional assembly. WindCube will make global maps of wind speed derived from the doppler shifted emission of the 630.0nm oxygen line (1D \u3e 3P), at altitudes near 250km. Projected performance includes wind speed retrievals every 10 seconds with an accuracy of 5m/s, a vertical resolution of 63km, and a horizontal resolution of 100km. We present an overview of the mission design and observation plan for WindCube as well as a top-level description of the payload design
