HR: 1330h
AN: ED13B-06    [Abstracts]
TI: FalconSAT-2 -- A Small Satellite in Support of Sun-Earth Science Education
AU: * McHarg, M G
EM: matthew.mcharg@usafa.af.mil
AF: United States Air Force Academy, HQ USAFA/DFP 2354 Fairchild Drive, Suite 2A31, US Air Force Academy, CO 80840 United States
AU: Chun, F K
EM: Francis.Chun@usafa.af.mil
AF: United States Air Force Academy, HQ USAFA/DFP 2354 Fairchild Drive, Suite 2A31, US Air Force Academy, CO 80840 United States
AU: Enloe, C L
EM: Lon.Enloe@usafa.af.mil
AF: United States Air Force Academy, HQ USAFA/DFP 2354 Fairchild Drive, Suite 2A31, US Air Force Academy, CO 80840 United States
AU: Habash Krause, L
EM: Linda.Krause@usafa.af.mil
AF: United States Air Force Academy, HQ USAFA/DFP 2354 Fairchild Drive, Suite 2A31, US Air Force Academy, CO 80840 United States
AB: The United States Air Force Academy has designed, built and tested the FalconSat-2 (FS-2) satellite in support of the Air Force Communications/Navigation Outage Forecast System (C/NOFS) mission. FalconSat-2 is currently scheduled for launch July 2005. The main payload is a novel Miniaturized Electrostatic Analyzer (MESA), which provides energy spectra of the ionospheric thermal plasma. Data from MESA will be cross calibrated with a traditional Retarding Potential Analyzer (RPA). Both data sets will be used to observe changes in the ionospheric density and temperature in the presence of plasma density depletions known to be associated with communication/navigation outages. This talk details how construction of a real satellite, with real science goals, ties together disparate ideas across different disciplines to bring to life Sun-Earth connections to the undergraduate student.
DE: 0850 Geoscience education research
DE: 2415 Equatorial ionosphere
DE: 2467 Plasma temperature and density
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly