NASA selects Sydney expert to study the Sun and space weather
Professor Iver Cairns, director of ARC Training Centre, CUAVA.
Iver Cairns, Professor in Space Physics and Director of the at the University of Sydney, is the only international co-investigator to be selected for both critical missions.
These missions will do fundamental, world-leading science on the causes of space weather, which impacts our daily lives.
Space weather
The Sun generates a vast outpouring of solar particles known as the solar wind, whose variability creates space weather. Near Earth, where such particles interact with our planet鈥檚 magnetic field, space weather can lead to profound impacts on human interests, such as astronauts鈥� safety, radio communications, GPS signals, and utility grids on the ground.
The more we understand what drives space weather and its interaction with the Earth and lunar systems, the more we can mitigate its effects 鈥� including safeguarding people and technology on Earth and in space.
鈥淭hese missions will do big science,鈥� said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, in a .
鈥淏ut they鈥檙e also special because they come in small packages, which means that we can launch them together and get more research for the price of a single launch.鈥�
NASA small satellite missions
The missions are designed to further our understanding of the Sun and its dynamic effects on space. The selected mission PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) will study how the Sun drives particles and energy into the solar system while the TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission will study Earth鈥檚 response.
, from the School of Physics, has been selected to work on the two missions:
1)聽聽聽 The PUNCH mission will focus directly on the Sun鈥檚 outer atmosphere, the corona, and how it generates the solar wind. Composed of four suitcase-sized satellites, PUNCH will image and track the solar wind as it leaves the Sun. The spacecraft also will track coronal mass ejections 鈥� large eruptions of solar material that can drive large space weather events near Earth 鈥� to better understand their evolution and develop new techniques for predicting such eruptions.
Professor Cairns will perform advanced computer simulations and comparisons with PUNCH data to understand coronal mass ejections, large eruptions of solar material that can drive large space weather events near Earth. He will also study the generation of radio emissions and the fall-off of the plasma's density between the Sun and Earth.聽
2)聽聽聽 The second mission, TRACERS, will observe particles and fields at the Earth鈥檚 magnetic cusps 鈥� the regions above Earth鈥檚 poles, where our planet鈥檚 magnetic field lines curve down toward Earth.聽TRACERS will study how magnetic fields around Earth interact with those from the Sun.聽
Professor Cairns will study the timing and properties of energetic particles and plasma waves observed by TRACERS to determine how magnetic reconnection occurs and accelerates energetic particles. He will also develop detailed theories for how the plasma waves are produced and evolve.聽聽
INSPIRE-2 CubeSat at the University of Sydney.
Australian CubeSat missions
鈥淧UNCH and TRACERS address some of the biggest open questions in space science and astrophysics,鈥� said Professor Cairns.
鈥淧UNCH鈥檚 four small satellites will allow us to measure and understand how the Sun鈥檚 magnetic field loops and million-degree plasma are transformed into the turbulent solar wind, which streams past and interacts with the Earth and other planets.
"TRACERS鈥檚 two satellites will explore how magnetic reconnection proceeds at Earth and accelerates energetic electrons and ions through the cusps into the atmosphere and ionosphere.
鈥淎lthough built in the USA, the six new satellites for PUNCH and TRACERS will provide great case studies for students, postdoctoral researchers, scientists, and industry people involved in the Australian Research Council鈥檚 training centre CUAVA.
鈥淥ur participation in these missions will benefit the five CubeSat missions that CUAVA anticipates flying in the next five years.鈥�
Launch date for the two missions is no later than August 2022.
Funding Declaration: NASA is supporting the PUNCH and TRACERS missions with total funding of US $280 million.聽聽
Featured image:聽A constant outflow of solar material streams out from the Sun depicted in an artist's rendering. Credit: NASA.