Jahresbericht 08 - PMOD/WRC

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16 Instrument Development SOVIM A reflight Instrument was built around original components from the SOVA/EURECA instrument. The start of the project was in 1998, launch occurred 10 years later on February 7, 2008. SOVIM contains 4 absolute Radiometers two Sunphotometers and a Two-Axis- Sun-sensor. The launch, originally planned for December 7, 2007, was unfortunately cancelled and shifted to February 7, 2008. Hansjörg Roth, Project Manager of SOVIM, and Dany Pfiffner, Project Engineer, travelled to Kennedy Space Center to witness the launch. After a few days in orbit (Figure 3), SOLAR was attached to the International Space Station (ISS) (Figure 4). First switchon of SOVIM occurred on the night of February 15 to 16, 2008. The initialization commands were sent from the Belgian User Operation Center (BUSOC) at Brussels. After solving a few troubles upon switch-on, SOVIM functioned and operations were nominal on the next day. We received the first data from SOVIM on February 15, 2008. The Coarse Pointing Device (CPD) was not working properly from the beginning. No measurements were possible during the first sun-window, however, during the second sun-window the first useful data with a calculated pointing were obtained. The sun sensor and its software were not yet functioning. During the third sun-window we then obtained the first real pointing, which unfortunately was off by more than 1º, and so the data could not been used. A Criss-Cross was performed to find out the offsets and to provide the necessary information for an appropriate correction of the sun sensor. Finally, a few hours of rea- Figure 3. SOLAR in orbit within the STS. sonable data out of the available 250 hours of that window were collected. The end of that window was on early May 11, 2008, nearly 3 months after switch-on. During the 4th sun window, only about 70% of observation time was available, mainly due to some resets and other accidents with the CPD. The next sun window was completely lost because of a communication problem between COLUMBUS and SOLAR, which turned out to be due a failure in COLUMBUS. The next sun window began at the end of July and only slightly more than 60 % of the available observation time could be used – still due to recurring failures of the CPD. Similar coverage occurred for the next two solar windows, namely between 55 and 65 % of the available observation time. In preparation of the next observation window on October 25, 2008, SOVIM was suddenly switched-off and could not be re-activated. This was the unfortunate end of SOVIM’s observation phase. After a comprehensive investigation by PMOD, ESA and NASA, the understanding surfaced that it is no longer possible to switch on SOVIM instrument. The switch-on circuitry of the old EURECA power converter had apparently failed. The main reason for the re-use of this circuitry was the program schedule – if the delay of nearly 10 years could have been foreseen then this circuit would have been replaced with a new design to prevent a single-point-failure. Although we only had about half the available observations we obtained excellent data and the corresponding results are reported in the science section. Figure 4. Mounting of SOLAR outside of COLUMBUS.
LYRA The Lyman-Alpha Radiometer is a payload experiment of ESA’s technology mission PROBA-2. LYRA contains three UV filter radiometers, each with four channels. Some of them are equipped with BOLD detectors (Blind to the Optical Light Detectors). The project began in 2002 and the flight unit was delivered to Verhaert Space, Belgium in 2007. The launch date for PROBA-2 has been postponed again and is now foreseen in July to September 2009. Figure 5. Animation Drawing by Verhaert Space of the ESA technology mission PROBA-2. The solar instrumentation of PROBA-2 comprises two instruments: SWAP and LYRA. SWAP is a EUV imaging telescope with a field of view of 54 arcmin, imaging the sun in a wavelength band cantered at 17.5 nm. LYRA is a 4-channel filter radiometer measuring the spectral solar irradiance in two Extreme-UV and two Near-UV passbands, which are relevant to Solar Physics, Space Weather and Aeronomy with a cadence of up to 50 Hz. The hardware of LYRA was built at PMOD/WRC. Figure 6. LYRA Integrated on PROBA-2. Instrument Development 17 No activities were performed by PMOD concerning the hardware in 2008. A consortium for future data treatment was established by PMOD/WRC in order to provide online space weather forecast data on the internet. The Fachhochschule Baden, Switzerland will develop four-dimensional visualization software displaying spectral data of UV components over time. The same method will be applied to the PMOD/WRC space experiment PREMOS aboard the French satellite PICARD.
Page 1 and 2: Annual Report 2008
Page 3 and 4: Annual Report 2008
Page 5 and 6: Jahresbericht 2008 Werner Schmutz K
Page 7 and 8: Introduction Werner Schmutz In-hous
Page 9 and 10: Solar Radiometry Section (WRC-SRS)
Page 11 and 12: Atmospheric Turbidity Section (WRC-
Page 13 and 14: Aerosol Optical Depth Inter-Compari
Page 15 and 16: Instrument Development Space Radiom
Page 17: Space Experiments Silvio Koller and
Page 21 and 22: Scientific Research Activities Infl
Page 23 and 24: With CCM SOCOL v2.0 we have simulat
Page 25 and 26: Scientific Research Activities 23 M
Page 27 and 28: Measurement of Vitamin D3 Weighted
Page 29 and 30: Julian Gröbner and Stefan Wacker W
Page 31 and 32: Reconstructing the Long Term Spectr
Page 33 and 34: Results from the SOVIM Experiment o
Page 35 and 36: Ruckstuhl C., Philipona R., Behrens
Page 37 and 38: Administration Personnel Department
Page 39 and 40: Administration Sonja Degli Esposti
Page 41 and 42: Balance Sheet 2008 Aktiven 31.12.20
Page 43 and 44: View of the International Space Sta

Jahresbericht 08 - PMOD/WRC

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