Space Science Activities Research Articles

Advanced CubeSat Antennas for Deep Space and Earth Science Missions: A review

Small satellites (smallsats) provide low-cost access to space and have historically been used for flight technology demonstrations and limited-function space science activities. Novel antenna technologies have enabled high-performance smallsat telecommunications, science in Earth orbit, and the first CubeSat mission to deep space. In the past five years, technologists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have designed, tested, and successfully flown these innovative and enabling smallsat antennas. This article describes these innovations and their impact on smallsat performance for recent and future NASA missions.

The state of space science in Africa

There has been an increase in the number of space science activities and facilities in Africa in the last 15 years. This increase, however, is not proportionate to the indigenous user community for these activities and facilities. In this paper, I discuss these activities and their benefits for the African region, and point out some of the challenges for space science in Africa.

Proposal for a United Nations Basic Space Technology Initiative

The United Nations Programme on Space Applications, implemented by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, promotes the benefits of space-based solutions for sustainable economic and social development. The Programme assists Member States of the United Nations to establish indigenous capacities for the use of space technology and its applications. In the past the Programme has primarily been focusing on the use of space applications and on basic space science activities. However, in recent years there has been a strong interest in a growing number of space-using countries to build space technology capacities, for example, the ability to develop and operate small satellites. In reaction to this development, the United Nations in cooperation with the International Academy of Astronautics has been organizing annual workshops on small satellites in the service of developing countries. Space technology related issues have also been addressed as part of various other activities of the Programme on Space Applications. Building on these experiences, the Office for Outer Space Affairs is now considering the launch of a new initiative, preliminarily titled the United Nations Basic Space Technology Initiative (UNBSTI), to promote basic space technology development. The initiative would be implemented in the framework of the Programme on Space Applications and its aim would be to help building sustainable capacities for basic space technology education and development, thereby advancing the operational use of space technology and its applications.

International Heliophysical Year 2007: A Report from the UN/NASA Workshop Bangalore, India, 27 November–1 December 2006

The IHY Secretariat and the United Nations Basic Space Science Initiative (UNBSSI) assist scientists and engineers from all over the world in participating in the International Heliophysical Year (IHY) 2007. A major thrust of IHY/UNBSSI is to deploy arrays of small, inexpensive instruments such as magnetometers, radio telescopes, GPS receivers, all-sky cameras, etc. around the world to allow global measurements of ionospheric and heliospheric phenomena. The small instrument programme is envisioned as a partnership between instrument providers and instrument hosts in developing nations. The IHY/UNBSSI can facilitate the deployment of several of these networks world-wide. Existing data bases and relevant software tools will be identified to promote space science activities in developing nations. Extensive data on space science have been accumulated by a number of space missions. Similarly, long-term data bases are available from ground-based observations. These data can be utilized in ways different from originally intended for understanding the heliophysical processes. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of IHY/UNBSSI, its achievements, future plans, and outreach to the 192 Member States of the United Nations as recorded in the UN/NASA workshop in India.

OPTICAL CLOCKS AND FREQUENCY METROLOGY FOR SPACE

Optical frequency standards and femtosecond comb measurement capabilities now rival and in some cases exceed those of microwave devices, with further improvements anticipated. Opportunities are emerging for the application of highly stable and accurate optical frequency devices to fundamental physics space science activities, and the European Space Agency (ESA) has recently commissioned studies on different aspects of optical clocks in space. This paper highlights some examples, including the difficulty of comparing very accurate terrestrial clocks at different locations due to fluctuations of the geoid; by locating a primary frequency standard in space, one could avoid geoid-related gravitational redshifts.

International Heliophysical Year 2007: Basic space science initiatives

Abstract The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, through the IHY Secretariat and the United Nations Basic Space Science Initiative (UNBSSI), assists scientists and engineers world-wide to participate in the International Heliophysical Year (IHY) 2007. A major thrust of IHY/UNBSSI is to deploy arrays of small, inexpensive instruments such as magnetometers, radio telescopes, GPS receivers, all-sky cameras, etc. around the world to allow global measurements of ionospheric and heliospheric phenomena. The small instrument program is envisioned as a partnership between instrument providers and instrument hosts in developing nations, with the former providing the instruments, the host nation the manpower, facilities and operational support, typically at a local university. Funds are not available through IHY/UNBSSI to build the instruments; these must be obtained through the normal proposal channels. All instrument operational support for local scientists, facilities, data acquisition, etc. will be provided by the host nation. The IHY/UNBSSI can facilitate the deployment of several of these networks and existing databases and relevant software tools will be identified to promote space science activities in developing nations. Extensive data on space science have been accumulated by a number of space missions. Similarly, long-term databases are available from ground-based observations. These data can be utilized in ways different from those originally intended for understanding the heliophysical processes. This report provides an overview of IHY/UNBSSI, its achievements, future plans and outreach to the 192 member states of the United Nations.

A Gateway Website that Provides Earth-System-Science Internet Activities to K-12 Teachers

Wright State University's Department of Geological Sciences has developed a K-12 outreach website that links over one hundred and fifty exemplary earth- and space-science learning and dataresource sites through activity pages on one URL (http://geology.wright.edu//geology/kl2/K-12.html). The site was developed to meet the needs of classroom teachers in Ohio and elsewhere for standards-based, interactive, interdisciplinary earth- and space-science activities. Many activities designed for use at the middle-school and junior-high levels use near real-time data. Each hyperlinked site is tied to the K-12 outreach website through an activity page that provides implementation suggestions to the classroom teacher and correlates each activity with the appropriate national science-education standards and the learning outcomes of the science section of the Ohio Proficiency Test. Demonstrating proficiency in science processes and applications has recently been mandated by the Ohio legislature as a requirement for high-school graduation. By using the activities, K-12 classroom teachers give their students the opportunity to develop the critical science proficiencies called for by state and national science-education standards.

Europe keeps space science budget level

munich Europe's space ministers have agreed on a level budget for joint space science activities over the next few years that will allow science missions already approved to be launched on schedule.

The prospects of enhanced space science training in Kenya

To a limited extent, space exploration has been conducted in Kenya for almost the last two decades through a joint project (San Marco Project) between the Government of Kenya and the Government of Italy. Other space science activities in the country include remote sensing, space communications, meteorology and the use of navigation and positioning satellite systems. To sustain space science activities in Kenya will require specialized training in the various disciplines of space sciences. Currently, there are no well coordinated training programmes in the country. Consequently, there is an urgent need for a well planned and a well coordinated space science training programme. This could be achieved through international co-operation and joint ventures between Kenya and space science institutions/organizations worldwide. The paper justifies the need for training in space science in Kenya and discusses socio-economic as well as environmental gains which would be realized due to increased space science activities arising from such training. Some of these gains would include participation in the launching and tracking, and control of satellite, managing and running a space centre or satellite launching and tracking station, decoding and synthesizing data from satellites and disseminating such data for public and scientific uses. The paper further offers suggestions on how the training requirements cited above could be achieved. It also highlights the level of expertise in space science disciplines and provides specific recommendations on the types of personnel that need to be trained. In addition, various forms and levels of training required to strengthen the role of space science in socioeconomic development in Kenya, are discussed.

The space station and Mars

This article presents a plan for reconfiguring the US-international Space Station, which could be used to undertake exploration of Mars. The author believes that there is an urgent need to give a unified purpose to the US Shuttle, Space Station and space science activities, and that planning for an international Mars sample return mission along the lines outlined here could start the US space programme moving again within budgetary requirements.

Shuttle accident stalls science plans

Plans to make 1986 a uniquely productive year for U.S. space science activities ended in one horrible moment with the January 28, 1986, explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. The joyless scene at Cape Canaveral, Fla., stood in sharp contrast to the overwhelming success of Voyager 2 in its encounter with Uranus 4 days earlier. (Scientific details of that encounter will follow in upcoming issues of Eos.)Of the 15 space shuttle flights planned for fiscal year 1986, beginning October 1, 1985, a total of seven were to have carried scientific payloads for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The remaining eight flights were evenly divided between missions for the U.S. Department of Defense and commercial missions for NASA's paying customers. The explosion caused NASA to put its entire space shuttle program on hold to allow time for engineers to find the cause of the accident and for NASA to implement corrective measures. As Eos went to press, NASA acting administrator William R. Graham had not yet released the names of those who would serve on the formal investigative panel. “I think everybody's agreed that it will take weeks to months to unravel,” said Alexander Dessler, director of the space science laboratory at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center near Huntsville, Ala. Dessler speculated that investigators would begin with a list of hundreds of possible causes for the explosion.

SPAN Pilot Project Report

Nearly 40 scientists, space physics data system managers, and NASA Headquarters personnel, all members of the Data System Users Working Group (DSUWG), met at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) on May 2 and 3, 1984, to discuss the status and future direction of the Space Physics Analysis Network (SPAN) pilot project. SPAN was recently established by Code EI and Code T at NASA Headquarters as a pilot project based on the recommendations of the DSUWG (see Eos, February 7, 1984, p. 46) and the urging of many scientists of the space plasma physics community. SPAN will use as its foundation the SCAN (Space‐Plasma Computer Analysis Network) system managed by Marshall Space Flight Center. Code EE at headquarters has chartered the DSUWG, currently chaired by D.N. Baker of Los Alamos, to provide the scientific user guidance for the future development of the SPAN. SPAN will continue to be managed by MSFC but funding and policy review will be handled by Code EI to coordinate all the headquarters space science activities on the system.

Use of TV in space science activities: some considerations

This paper discusses the merits of using on-board TV as the primary data recording system for certain type experiments in a manned space laboratory. Experiments of interest include fluid dynamics experiments. TV was used extensively on Skylab as the primary data system for such experiments. The results indicated a high potential for the use of TV as a data system for experiments. Contrasts with conventional photography, used on Apollo for similar experiments, are also given.