Canadian Report to ILWS WG

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Canadian Report to ILWS WG

• William Liu
• Space Science Branch, Canadian Space Agency

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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

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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

4
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

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The Ground-Based Program

• CGSM
• THEMIS GBO
• AMISR

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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

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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 Canadas successful program in space
  weather forecasting and effect mitigation and
  management

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CGSM at a Glance
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THEMIS GBO

• The CSA will continue to support GBO operation
  pursuant to NASAs extension of the THEMIS
  mission
• Canadian contributions are managed through two
  contracts
• ASI operation (University of Calgary)
• GMAG operation (University of Alberta)

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THEMIS GBO _at_ a Glance
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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.

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Intermission Movies
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Intermission Movies
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Intermission Science

• Ground and space observations nail down the onset
  wave mode

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

20
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)

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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.

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Concluding Remarks

• Canadas 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