PDF version of COSPAR - Space Science Research in Canada Report

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The amount of data generated by the network will be staggering. “Collecting andstoring all that data is no small thing,” said Manuel. “It has required a lot oftechnological development.” Although data will be transmitted from theinstruments to various university groups, the University of Alberta has beencontracted to maintain a central repository and share the information with the restof the world.The University of Alberta also has facility that runs computer models of theEarth’s magnetosphere. The CGSM data will be used to improve these modelsand make them as realistic as possible so they can eventually be used to predictspace weather events. Models are already used to forecast weather and climateon Earth, but “at the moment, it’s impossible to run the magnetosphere on acomputer like the ones used for weather forecasting,” said Manuel. “Themagnetosphere is really complex to simulate.”However, he said it might be possible to link a series of computers from aroundthe world to evaluate the threat posed by something like a coronal mass ejectionif it is detected by the monitoring network a few days before the disturbancearrives on Earth’s doorstep.OSIRISThey said it couldn’t be done.Even after a team of Canadian researchers did it, the scientific community stillsaid it couldn’t be done. “It took us four years before people stood back and said,that’s the way we have to do it,” recalls Ted Llewellyn, emeritus professor ofengineering physics at the University of Saskatchewan.He is referring to a technique known as atmospheric tomography—a method helikens to taking a CAT scan of the atmosphere to reveal previously unknownaspects of its three-dimensional structure. It is being used by a Canadian-builtinstrument called OSIRIS (Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System) tomap the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere that protects the Earth’s surfacefrom the sun’s biologically damaging ultraviolet radiation.Llewellyn, who is the principal investigator on the OSIRIS project, said it is theonly instrument capable of doing atmospheric tomography at present. Orbitingthe Earth aboard the Swedish satellite Odin, its main task is to produce globalvertical profile maps of the ozone layer. In one day it can produce a height profilethat would take a month to create using other techniques.58
The instrument also measures concentrations of the ozone-destroying gasesnitrogen dioxide and bromine oxide, as well as water vapour in the upperatmosphere, which can be used as an indicator of climate change. And it mapssmall sulphate particles or aerosols, produced by industrial activities, whichsignificantly influence both ozone and climate.Launched in 2001 for what was scheduled to be a two-year mission, OSIRIS isstill going strong. Initially funded by the Canadian Space Agency, it was recentlygiven a new lease on life when the European Space Agency (ESA) agreed tosupport the operation of Odin and OSIRIS for at least a seventh year andperhaps a few more, depending on the scientific results.This support is “a recognition of the value of the data,” said Stella Melo, ProjectScientist at the CSA, which continues to fund ground-based processing of theraw data before it is sent to ESA. She said OSIRIS is making a significant andunique contribution to understanding processes going on in the upperatmosphere and providing data that will be valuable for computer models used toproject future changes in the ozone layer and the climate.Llewellyn described OSIRIS as a development instrument that will help scientistsdesign the next generation of satellites to monitor global environmental changes.“We’ve gone through that teething stage and we’re at the point where we can sayto people, this is what you need to do.”“We still think we can wring a lot more out of it,” said Doug Degenstein, associateprofessor of engineering physics at the University of Saskatchewan and coprincipalinvestigator of the OSIRIS project. He said one reason why OSIRIS’sdata is so valuable, and why ESA is providing continuing support, is because “alot of the spacecraft instruments that have been making similar measurementsover the last 10 years have now died,” As a result, scientists are relying onOSIRIS to maintain continuity in the data on long-term trends until newspacecraft can be launched.Monitoring the health of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere has been apriority for three decades, since scientists discovered it was being damaged byindustrial chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Ozone, which iscomprised of three atoms of oxygen, is constantly being created and destroyedby natural chemical processes, so the amount of ozone present at any given timevaries depending on the balance between the processes of creation anddestruction.59
Page 6 and 7:
satellite, MOST—and to leverage C
Page 8 and 9: This is a science-driven strategy f
Page 13: Future planetary missionsCanada is
Page 17 and 18: objects that pose a collision hazar
Page 19 and 20: Earth’s magnetosphere. In Februar
Page 21 and 22: Life And Physical SciencesPerceptua
Page 23 and 24: Bodies in the Space Environment (BI
Page 26 and 27: The astronauts will loop willow ste
Page 28 and 29: Selected Project and Mission Descri
Page 30 and 31: His goal is to study several differ
Page 32 and 33: pressure, involves a device that us
Page 34 and 35: positively-charged protons—stream
Page 36 and 37: elegans, these tiny worms have been
Page 38 and 39: There are two basic kinds of space
Page 40 and 41: of water on Mars is a scientific pr
Page 42 and 43: alteration rind caused by water flo
Page 44 and 45: loss of the telescope. Although the
Page 46 and 47: in 2008 that will also collect data
Page 48 and 49: Dynacon Inc. of Mississauga, Ontari
Page 50 and 51: since the early days of his researc
Page 52 and 53: photographed by the lander cameras
Page 54 and 55: degrees Celsius, they’re probably
Page 56 and 57: service on the way.” Natural Reso
Page 60 and 61: Because of this, “measuring ozone
Page 62 and 63: objective of the OSIRIS project, bu
show all

PDF version of COSPAR - Space Science Research in Canada Report

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?