Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC Satellite Mission in IPY 2007-2008: Contributions in Ionospheric, Atmospheric, and Geodetic Sciences  (FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC Satellite Mission Contributions to IPY)

Outline
The joint Taiwan/USA satellite mission FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC ("F/C") is to launch a constellation of 6 mini-satellites to conduct vertical profile limb-sounding of the ionosphere and atmosphere using the proven GPS occultation technique. Several factors make this mission potentially very useful in monitoring and understanding Earth's polar environment and its changes during and after IPY 2007-2008: (1) To be launched in March, 2006, and following a ~1-year period of orbit adjustment and testing, the mission will be in full operation in early 2007 with an expected lifetime of 5 years. (2) The 6 equally spaced orbits have an inclination of 72 degrees and altitude of ~800 km, allowing the limb-sounding to cover the polar areas in their entirety (no "polar holes" as is typical for other remote sensing satellites). (3) While the daily number of sounding "events" is about 2500 distributed worldwide, there is naturally a concentration of such observations towards high la! titudes * some 200 events daily fall within the polar areas. (4) The observations will be processed and made available to scientific community by the F/C project at near-real-time to meet various application needs including IPY's. (5) By its nature, the F/C mission is strong in international collaboration. (6) The scientific targets and benefits of the mission are inter-disciplinary. Points (5) and (6) will be elaborated below: The research and application areas of the F/C mission are 4-fold: meteorology, climate, ionosphere, and geodesy. While the basic operations and level-1 data will be done (near-real-time) by the F/C mission offices both in UCAR (Colorado, USA) and NSPO (Taiwan), the bulk of the emphasized studies with respect to IPY 2007-2008 will be conducted in Taiwan under NSPO and university groups. These include: high-latitude GPS occultation sounding of ionosphere in conjunction with ground-based ionospheric tomography (National Central University NCU); high-latitude ionospheric and space-weather dynamics (NCU); high-latitude weather system, gravity waves (NCU, NSPO, and Laboratory of Radio Wave Propagation in Space (LRWP) in the Russian Academy of Sciences), and inter-latitudinal interactions from GPS occultation (NCU, NSPO, LRWP); retrieval and applications of atmospheric parameters in polar areas (NCU, NSPO, LRWP); space geodesy and time-variable gravity in polar areas (NCU, NASA God! dard Space Flight Center, Ohio State University). With the ground operation/receiving facilities and data systems that the F/C project has established, this portion of the proposed IPY study requires no additional in-situ infrastructures or ground logistics. An additional IPY-related international polar observation activity is the setting up of a ground-based atmospheric monitor system for ground-truth and an associated optical telescope facility on Antarctica for atmospheric nightglows and astronomical observations. Because of its excellent atmospheric condition and the total darkness for several consecutive months South Pole has now been recognized to be the last virgin land for ground-based astronomy. It is possible that in 20-30 years, some of the largest and most advanced astronomical facilities for optical and infrared astronomy will be set up in South Pole. This task and its feasibility study will be carried out by the Institute of Astronomy, NCU, in collaboration with international partners that have access to astronomical sites (Dome A or C) in Antarctica. Under the banner of IPY, the Institute of Astronomy plans to seek opportunity in collaborating with the Australian astronomers and the worldwide science community in ! the initiation of some pilot projects for site surveys and seeing monitoring. If successful, this will be an important element of international (Taiwan-Australia) cooperation. Taiwan has not been traditionally involved in any (international or otherwise) polar research in the past; this IPY participation would be an important step forward in many aspects. A full proposal is requested by the National Science Council of Taiwan, which will provide funding support.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
Contributions from FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellite mission to IPY will be in the area of monitoring and understanding of Earth's polar environment and its changes during and after IPY 2007-2008. Specifically it will provide a large amount of source data to study the space-weather interactions in the ionosphere and physical variations in the atmosphere, not only for the polar areas (where the data are relatively concentrated) but also for the globe. Being near-real-time, these data are potentially very useful for forecasts of weather and space-weather.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
The FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC mission is an established international project among Taiwan and USA. The present IPY emphasis involves additional scientists from international institutions of Russia and Australia.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
The F/C portion of the observations will be made by a satellite constellation rather than in situ. The pilot study of the astronomical site involves field surveys at the South Pole in collaboration with other international institutes.

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: n/a
Antarctic: 12/2008            

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
The astronomical site work in the proposed IPY studies requires support of in-situ infrastructures or ground logistics from collaborating partners on the establishment of ground-truth atmospheric measurements and tests of astronomical observation conditions.

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
No

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?
Own national polar operator
Another national polar operator
Own support
Other sources of support

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
The FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC mission itself is already established as an international project. To emphasize on the IPY activities, a full proposal is requested by the National Science Council of Taiwan, which will provide funding support.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
Yes

This project represents a "polar emphasis" of an existing satellite mission independent of IPY.

How will the project be organised and managed?
Under the framework of the existing FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC science team and its regular communications, the proposed IPY activities and progress will be additionally overseen by the lead proposers. Specific sub-projects (in ionosperic, atmospheric, and geodetic research) will be conducted routinely at various university and NSPO groups, as the F/C data become available. Regular meetings and group discussions will be conducted to bring together reports of new results and charting of new directions. The proposers will attend IPY meetings to interface with IPY.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
The FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC mission is a "pride" scientific flagship of Taiwan. The education and outreach plan is an integral part of the mission. The international IPY emphasis will further augment the interests. Regular channels including mass media, websites, and exhibits will be utilized, while popular lectures as well as lectures in universities will be given regularly.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
The FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC mission is a believer in open-access data, and has established a feasible data management policy as typical of international scientific projects. Our IPY proposal does not add to the F/C data set, but only utilizes the F/C data set. Any scientific results coming from the study will be reported to the community in a timely fashion.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
A full IPY proposal is requested by the National Science Council of Taiwan which will provide funding support. q3_6_Addition : Taiwan has not been traditionally involved in any (international or otherwise) polar research in the past; this IPY participation would be an important step forward in many aspects.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
None

PROPOSER DETAILS

Dr Lance Wu
National Space Organization (NSPO)
8F, 9 Prosperity 1st Road, Science *based Industrial Park, Hsingchu
300
Taiwan, ROC

Tel: +886-3-5784208
Mobile: no
Fax: +886-3-5784034
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation