POLAR PI NEWSLETTER – June 2004
POLAR TELECON: Friday June 4, 2004
PIs will be telephoned at their usual numbers
Other participants may call in at: 1-800-988-0215, password POLAR TELECON
(Leader: John Sigwarth)
Agenda
1. Budget news
2. Operations
Anomaly
Review Team Reports
Sun Angle Maneuvers and Plan
Eclipse Season
3. Candidate science topics for Senior Review proposal
4. E/PO Update
5. Science Discussion: UVI
The web site for the final agenda will be:
http://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/polar/telecons/2004Jun04/
Tentative CY04 Science Discussions
[Errors/omissions/preferences to: john.b.sigwarth@nasa.gov
Jun 2004: UVI
Jul 2004: PWI
Aug 2004: MDI
Sep 2004: CAMMICE
Oct 2004:
Nov 2004: EFI
Dec 2004: TIMAS
Jan 2004: HYDRA
Feb 2004: MFE
Mar 2005: CEPPAD
Apr 2005: TIDE
May 2004: SEPS
Future Polar Telecons (tentative dates)
Friday, July 9, 2004
Friday, August 27, 2004
Budgets
Most of the instrument teams should have received their full funding
authorization levels for FY2004. The last few funding authorization
orders are nearing completion in the GSFC accounting system. Please
verify that you have received your full funding for FY2004 at your
institution. If you have not, send an email to john.b.sigwarth@nasa.gov. We
will continue to push on the system on our end to expedite this process.
There were two independent anomaly review teams meeting to discuss recent Polar spacecraft issues. Both of these teams have now documented their findings in the form of reports, and the status of Polar has been changed back to green. The full reports are available at: http://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/polar/telecons/2004Jun04/
The next Polar spacecraft maneuver is planned for November 9, 2004.
Scheduling including the necessary Deep Space Network (DSN) time for that
maneuver is going on now. We know that the small gradient drift in the
attitude of Polar is not well modeled currently and it is hoped that a longer
baseline of sun and horizon sensor data acquired in the ecliptic normal
attitude will allow for correction for this drift.
The FDF has created a maneuver plan that significantly improves the EFI
shadow-free science time on the dayside magnetopause in early 2005. FDF
has produced a small revision to the maneuver plan (Rev C) that gives 55 days
of EFI shadow-free operation in early 2005 when Polar apogee is near the
magnetopause. A plot of the sun angle in the new baseline plan can be found at
http://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/polar/telecons/2004Jun04/baseline sun angle rev c.gif
New Candidate Science for
the Senior Review 2005
Coordinated Studies With the Groundbased
Component of THEMIS.
The groundbased
component of THEMIS will be deployed and tested in 2005 well before the THEMIS
launch. This comprehensive northern hemisphere network along with POLAR
and its new high bit-rate telemetry mode for in-situ measurements will be used
to compare the field aligned current systems detected at higher altitudes with
the ionospheric currents and auroral structures seen by the THEMIS ground-based
measurements in the winters of 2005-2006 and 2006 to 2007. Thus the
Polar-THEMIS synergy will allow important scientific study while validating the
THEMIS ground-based component prior to the THEMIS launch.
Radiation Belts During the Declining Phase of the Solar Cycle.
It is known that the radiation belts behave differently during the
declining phase of a solar cycle. In early 2005 and continuing through
2007, the Polar orbit will be ideally situated to cross through all zones of
the radiation belts again through this declining phase of the solar cycle and
continuing down to solar minimum. The long baseline of Polar measurements
will be an invaluable resource for radiation belt modelers for the next half
decade.
Coordinated High Time Resolution Observations of the Cusp
Polar in conjunction with Cluster can be used to resolve spatial-temporal
ambiguities in the cusp. With Polar in its high bit rate telemetry mode
for in-situ measurements details of the cusp not accessible before will now be
observed. In addition, Polar can get a second look with higher temporal
resolution at the high energy particles in the cusp. The origin of these
high energy particles has been the subject of considerable controversy.
The Best of Polar DVD is progressing rapidly and most of the animations and visuals have been created with the exception of the "sounds of the magnetosphere" piece. The on-camera interviews were completed in April and the sound-bites are selected. A number of PI teams have been assisting with this effort and we appreciate any help that you have given to the team. You can see some of the new animations at http://superdarn.jhuapl.edu/share/nicky/polar_dvd
SCOSTEP Climate and Weather of the Sun-Earth System CAWSES
The Polar mission supported the 1st CAWSES space weather campaign, which
ran in association with the campaign of CPEA (Coupling Processes in Equatorial
Atmosphere) and the ISR World Days in March 29-April 3 2004. The focus of the
campaign is the coupling between the high- and low-latitude ionospheres. These
campaigns are briefly described at http://www.haystack.edu/schedules/worldays_2004.html
You should make every effort
to ensure that your data are processed in a timely manner as we will be setting
up a web page in support of this campaign. Please contact Nicky Fox (nicola.fox@jhuapl.edu) with relevant
information about your data.
Science Discussion: Polar
UVI Science Discussion June 4, 2004
