SWWT Meeting, 2011 Royal Observatory Brussels, Belgium, 28-29 June 2011 page 1

Report on behalf of the SWWT

Topical Group

Spacecraft, Aircraft and Launcher

Environments (2011)Susan McKenna-Lawlor

Space Technology Ireland, National University of Ireland,

Maynooth, Co. Kildare

Working Group Chair/spokesperson

Susan McKenna-Lawlor (STIL) E mail; stil@nuim.ie

Working Group Co-Chairs

Federico di Marco (VEGA)E. Mail; Federico.Di.Marco@esa.int

Guenther Reitz (DLR)E. Mail; Guenther.Reitz@dlr.de

There are ~30 general members of the group

Members

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Mission Statement

The Group was formed to act as a conduit between

the space weather community and ESA, providing in

particular inputs on matters concerning Space

Situational Awareness (SSA)

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Activities

An annual meeting of the Topical Group takes place during

Space Weather Week. These occasions provide an

opportunity for all our Members to meet and for new

members to join the Group

Annual reports are provided to the SWWT

The Executive Members communicate via telecon and e-mail.

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SWW Meeting in Brugge, 16 November, 2010

The Topical Group Meeting (2010) was Chaired by F. DiMarco as S. McKenna-Lawlor could not attend

Agenda:

Overview of Group activities (presented by FdiM on behalf of SMcKL)Progress with regard to Spacecraft and Launchers (FdiM)Progress with regard to manned flight in Aircraft and Space Environments (M. Meier on behalf of G. Reitz)Overview of ESA activities in the area of SSA (A. Hilgers)General invitation to Members to provide inputs (FdiM)AOB

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Ongoing Activity

The Chairman used ESA’s new MEREM models (for the first time within the community) to calculate the particle radiation environment on the Martian surface. It was demonstrated that the results obtained are in reasonable agreement with those obtained using NASA’s HZETRN model. A paper on this analysis is accepted for publication in Icarus.

Characterization of the particle radiation environment at three potential landing sites on Mars using ESA’s MEREM models

S. McKenna-Lawlor1, P. Gonçalves, A. Keating, B.Morgado, D. Heynderickx, P. Nieminen, G. Santin, P. P. Truscott, F. Lei, B. Foing and J. Balaz

These results will be outlined during the Team Meeting, 2011.

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Ongoing Activity

The Chairman, Co-Chairman (G. Reitz) and others calculated the particle radiation environment en route to and at Mars using the MEREM, Creme 2009 and HZETRN models. The resulting paper is accepted for publiction in a specail issue of Planetary and Space Science.

Overview of energetic particle hazards during prospective manned missions to Mars

Susan McKenna-Lawlor, P. Gonçalves, A. Keating, G. Reitz and D. Matthiä

The results will be outlined during the Team Meeting, 2011

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Ongoing Activity

A technical paper is being prepared by the Executive members (S. McKLawlor, G.Reitz. and FDi Marco) for the ESA Bulletin which will provide a state of the art overview of:

Space Weather user requirements for Launch Service, Trans-Polar Flight and Human Space Flight Providers andfor Spacecraft Operators

A first outline will be presented to the members during SWW and comments on the topics covered invited from the audience.

Submission for publication is projected for the end of 2011.

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Team Website

To promote ongoing interactions between group members and the TG Executive, a dedicated website has been set up on the Space Weather Portal.

Inter alia, news from ESA, the EU and other sources of interest to the group are mounted on this website.

Members are invited to send contributions to the Executive for the website or to indicate matters they would liked to have raised with ESA in the area of SSA.

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Tutorial at SWW

For the first time the TG will mount a tutorial for its members during Space Weather Week.

This tutorial (30 minutes) will be presented on the morning of Monday 28 November at a time yet to be decided by the Program Committee.

It will be presented by Dr. Karel Kudela of the Institute of Experimental Physics, Slovakia on:

Selected space weather effects relevant to satellite and airplane environments – relations to energetic particle and cosmic ray studies.

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Future Tutorial Sessions

It is planned that in 2012 we will have a special session (3 hours) during SWW during which a set of tutorials will be provided by experts on topics of interest to the Topical Group (for example on: Space Situational Awareness; Radiation Hazards aboard Aircraft and in Space; Acceptable Launch Conditions; Planetary Protection etc. etc.)

Requests for topics for next year will be called for on the website.

Funding will be sought to bring a guest speaker from NASA.

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Draft Agenda for SWW 2011

1. Welcome/Introduction (SMcKL)

2. Progress with regard to spacecraft and launchers (F. DiMarco)

3. Progress with regard to manned flight in Aircraft and Space Environments (G. Reitz)

4. Overview of ESA activities in the area of Space Situational Awareness (A. Hilgers)

5. Overview of the particle radiation hazard en route to/at Mars (SMcKenna-Lawlor)

6. Invitation to comment on topics covered in a Topical Group paper by the Executive for ESA’s Space Bulletin

7. AOBSWWT Meeting, 2011 Royal Observatory Brussels, Belgium, 28-29 June 2011 page 12

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