Canadian Report to ILWS WG

William LiuSpace Science Branch, Canadian Space Agency

Opening Remarks

• Canada has benefited significantly from ILWS

• The Canadian community and CSA have established a strong foundation for the program with a healthy mixture of ground-based and space-borne missions for the next 5 years

• We are looking ahead for the next 10

The Canadian ST Program• Landmass and history have made ground-based

auroral and geomagnetic observations a centerpiece of our program– CSA has made a long-term commitment to support this

element– It is a no-brainer– It is cost-effective– It is hugely productive

• Hundreds of papers• Dozens of highly qualified people in career positions• Media coverage and public interest

The Canadian ST Program• The CSA is aggressively purusing opportunities

for space-borne missions in order to maximize the science that can be done– ePOP

– SWARM

– ORBITALS

– Kuafu

– PCW mission

– SCOPE/Cross Scale

The Ground-Based Program• CGSM

• THEMIS GBO

• AMISR

Canadian Geospace Monitoring• The CSA concluded a successful AO last year for the next

5 years of CGSM• Selected projects are:

– Fluxgate magnetometer array (CARISMA-A) for studies of global-scale current flow

– Induction coil magnetometer array (CARISMA-B) for studies of VLF waves implicated, for example, in the acceleration of killer electrons

– A multispectral auroral all-sky auroral imager array for substorm and related studies

– A meridianal scanning photometer array for detailed characterization of precipitating particles

Canadian Geospace Monitoring

– Selected projects (continued)• An arctic ionosonde/GPS/photometer array to characterize

polar cap convection, transpolar ionospheric condition, and their effect on auroral activities

• Support of the operation of Canadian SuperDARN (4 radars now, with PolarDARN providing complete northern polar cap coverage)

• A data analysis and modeling module to tackle scientific questions behind the CSGM data

– Also, the CSA is negotiating with its government partners on

• Continuing Canada’s successful program in space weather forecasting and effect mitigation and management

CGSM at a Glance

THEMIS GBO

• The CSA will continue to support GBO operation pursuant to NASA’s extension of the THEMIS mission

• Canadian contributions are managed through two contracts– ASI operation (University of Calgary)– GMAG operation (University of Alberta)

THEMIS GBO @ a Glance

AMISR

• Canada has been interested in AMISR from early on as a major space science facility on Canadian soil

• A ‘chancy meeting’ last October led to the opportunity for Canada to contribute one of the two Resolute AMISR faces at ~$15 M

• Eric Donovan and Jean-Pierre St-Maurice have secured the necessary university allocation to make a bid to Canada Foundation for Innovation funding (a formality in most cases)

• Resolute AMISR, starting operation in ~2010, will be the most advanced instrument to study the polar ionosphere and its connection to auroral ionosphere.

Intermission Movies

Intermission Movies

Intermission Science

• Ground and space observations nail down the onset wave mode

The Space Component

• The CSA has pursued a balanced approach in shaping our program. A space component is essential

• Our space component is geospace-centric– Further, it has a strong IT flavor

• However, we are venturing out to the magnetosphere and radiation belts

• The following describes some ongoing projects

ePOP– To be launched in the second half of 2009– Up to 2-year mission in an elliptical 300 1500 km, 70º orbit to

study• Acceleration of ion outflow

– O+ ions are a major factor in storms

• Thermal and secondary auroral electrons (up to 100 eV)• Fast, DMSP-type, auroral imaging in IR/VIS• Radio tomagraphy of the ionosphere with radio receiver,

SuperDARN, beacon, and GPS occulation

– ePOP and C/NOFS form a nice high and low-latitude combo– Launch delay fortuitous push the mission to potentially overlap

SWARM• Elliptical and circular orbit complementarity, as well as instrument

synergy

SWARM

– Three-satellite ESA mission to study geomagnetic field, 2010-2014

• Canada to build the electric field instrument (CEFI)

– E-field measurement to remove geospace "noise"

– Combined E and B instruments can measure the Poynting flux to W/m2 accuracy

– Constellation plus precision will allow field-aligned current dynamics to be probed in greater detail

– In conjunction with contempraneous magnetospheric missions, will open new doors on MI coupling research

ORBITALS

• The CSA is finishing Phase A• A SRR will be conducted next month• A presentation to CSA Executive is planned

in late summer for decision on the project• Continue to work with NASA on ways of

cooperation• Time is pressing for the upcoming solar

max

Kuafu

• The Chinese space science community gave its seal of approval last June

• The comprehensive review report accepted by CNSA• CNSA changed the terms of cooperation

– International contributions of bus and launchers solicited

• Situations in Europe also dicy• Scenarios of decoupling Kuafu A and Kuafu B discussed,

but only sporadically• The September Kuafu meeting in Kunming will tell

whether we have a mission or not, and if yes, what it is like

PCW

• Polar Communications and Weather Satellites is a mission concept study at the CSA – it consists of a pair of Molnya satellites

• Auroral imager is a ‘tertiary’ science payload (but increasing in importance)

SCOPE/Cross Scale

• Canadian interest early on during Cross Scale proposal stage (University of Alberta part of the magnetometer team and will have CSA support to explore Canadian contribution to this element)

• Interest heightened during my sabbatical at Imperial and almost daily lunch meeting with Steve Schwartz

• The best way for Canada to make a contribution is through SCOPE, due to its spare launch capability

• Discussion started– Optimistic that something will happen soon.

Concluding Remarks

• Canada’s ST program is in good shape

• There are some long-term concerns– Human resource is a greater worry than financial resource for Canada

• The CSA is working with Canadian universities to explore a partnership through which a national institute for space science can be formed through joint Federal and Provincial funding, so that– Advanced instrument development can be conducted independent of

missions

– HQP can be trained in a cutting-edge and challenging environment

– Promising scientists and engineers can be retained

– Stay tuned