. | . |
Joint NASA-Brazil SPORT CubeSat mission will aid better space weather prediction by Molly Porter for MSFC News Huntsville AL (SPX) Aug 04, 2017
NASA and a team of Brazilian space researchers have announced a joint CubeSat mission to study phenomena in Earth's upper atmosphere - a region of charged particles called the ionosphere - capable of disrupting communications and navigation systems on the ground and potentially impacting satellites and human explorers in space. Two phenomena in the ionosphere - equatorial plasma bubbles and scintillation - have impacted radio communication systems, satellite technologies and global positioning system (GPS) signals for decades, said Jim Spann, chief scientist for the Science and Technology Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Equatorial plasma bubbles are regions of comparatively low density which may elongate into towering plumes during high-intensity periods. Scintillation is a unique type of atmospheric fluctuation that can interrupt radio frequencies, much like the "twinkling" effect seen in starlight when optical frequencies are disrupted. The Scintillation Prediction Observations Research Task (SPORT) mission, funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, will observe these peculiar structures in order to understand what causes them, determine how to predict their behavior and assess ways to mitigate their effects. The joint U.S.-Brazilian team, led by Spann as principal investigator, will design and launch SPORT as a CubeSat, a compact satellite about the size of two loaves of bread. It will be launched in 2019 to an Earth orbit approximately 217-248 miles high (350-400 km). Its operational phase is expected to last at least a year. "Degraded communications and GPS signals are known to be closely linked to these phenomena," Spann said. It's his goal to shed new light on these phenomena and inspire new operational solutions to contend with the disturbed conditions.
Protecting Brazil's aviation, agriculture "Our country is interested in refining GPS signal processing, making takeoffs and landings safer and more precise," he said. "Because so many international flights come to and through Brazil, this should be a matter of concern for all countries." Brazil's strong agricultural industry also is concerned about the anomaly's effects on GPS, said Durao's colleague Dr. Luis Loures, the SPORT spacecraft manager at the Instituto Tecnologico da Aeronautica in Sao Jose dos Campos. "Our agribusiness is always trying to increase crop productivity," he said. "One way to accomplish this is by using automated tools. But being able to precisely position those automated tractors and field sprayers, without disruption from solar phenomena, is crucial." "As society becomes more dependent every day on space-based technology - cell phones, self-driving cars, secure military communications - it's critically important we first understand the environment in which our technology resides, then learn how to operate through and preserve it from potentially disruptive or damaging interference," Spann said.
Understanding the phenomena Plasma bubbles and scintillation are global equatorial and mid-latitude phenomena, made worse by the South American Magnetic Anomaly, where Earth's magnetic equator dips close to Earth. "Many of the discoveries to date have been confined to a limited number of longitudinal sectors," Spann said. "SPORT will make a systematic study of the ionosphere at all longitudes around the planet, documenting the conditions that trigger formation of the bubbles, with particular focus on the South American sector." As multiple instruments on the ground also record data, Spann said, SPORT will probe the ionosphere from above. During subsequent passes, it will study specific sectors to identify conditions favorable for developing plasma bubbles and ionospheric scintillations. These simultaneous satellite and ground-based studies will help researchers identify how the observations are related, providing a better understanding of the results at all longitudes. The team is confident the findings will enable researchers to use physics-based models to determine the physics of plasma bubble triggers, and thus identify the resulting scintillation of radio signals that propagate throughout the turbulent region.
More about SPORT The SPORT mission management team is led by Marshall alongside its international partners, the Brazilian Space Agency in Brasilia, and the National Institute for Space Research and Technical Aeronautics Institute, both in Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Paulo. SPORT is part of NASA's Heliophysics Technology and Instrument Development for Science program. NASA's heliophysics mission includes research into the effects of the sun on Earth, its atmosphere and the planets of our solar system. To learn more, visit here
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 04, 2017 According to one longstanding theory, our Solar System's formation was triggered by a shock wave from an exploding supernova. The shock wave injected material from the exploding star into a neighboring cloud of dust and gas, causing it to collapse in on itself and form the Sun and its surrounding planets. New work from Carnegie's Alan Boss offers fresh evidence supporting this theory, mode ... read more Related Links Cubesats at NASA Solar Science News at SpaceDaily
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |