HR: 13:51h
AN: SA13B-02 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: The C/NOFS Satellite and its Relation to the Space Weather Objectives of NASA's Living With a Star Program
AU: * Pfaff, R
EM: Robert.F.Pfaff@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD,
AU: de La Beaujardiere, O
EM: odile.delabeaujardiere@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Lab, Hanscom AFB, MA,
AU: Hunton, D
EM: Donald.Hunton@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Lab, Hanscom AFB, MA,
AU: Retterer, J
EM: John.Retterer@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Lab, Hanscom AFB, MA,
AU: Groves, K
EM: Keith.Groves@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Lab, Hanscom AFB, MA,
AU: Jeong, L
EM: Laila.Jeong@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Lab, Hanscom AFB, MA,
AU: Heelis, R
EM: heelis@utdallas.edu
AF: University of Texas, Dallas, TX,
AU: Earle, G
EM: earle@utd500.utdallas.edu
AF: University of Texas, Dallas, TX,
AU: Straus, P
EM: Paul.R.Straus@aero.org
AF: Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA,
AU: Bernhardt, P
EM: bern@ppdu.nrl.navy.mil
AF: Naval Research Lab, Washington, DC,
AB: A major objective of NASA's Living With a Star mission is to understand the variability of the plasma density in the earth's low and mid latitude ionosphere, including the conditions leading to the formation of equatorial spread-F irregularities and their location, magnitude, and spatial and temporal evolution. The main objectives of the Air Force Communication / Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) Mission of the Air Force Research Laboratory are to understand, model, and forecast the presence of equatorial ionospheric irregularities that adversely impact communication and navigation systems. Thus, the C/NOFS mission objectives are directly compatible with fundamental space weather goals of the LWS geospace program. The C/NOFS mission includes a satellite scheduled to be launched in September, 2005 into a low inclination (13°) elliptical (~375 x 710 km) orbit, as well as extensive ground-based observations and theory and modeling activities. The first satellite solely dedicated to forecasting ionospheric irregularities and radio wave scintillations, C/NOFS is equipped with sensors that measure ambient and fluctuating electron densities; ion and electron temperatures; AC and DC electric fields; magnetic fields; neutral winds; ion drifts; optical lightning emissions; ionospheric scintillations; and the electron content along the lines of sight between C/NOFS, GPS satellites, and ground receiver sites. To our knowledge, the sensor suite on C/NOFS is richer than on any previously flown equatorial satellite. C/NOFS is a joint Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and Space Test Program (STP) mission. The neutral wind meter and ion drift meter are provided as part of the UTD Coupled-Ionosphere-Neutral Dynamics Investigation (CINDI) package that is funded by NASA's Explorer Program. This talk presents an overview of the C/NOFS mission and discusses its relevance to the LWS Geospace I-T Storm Probe mission.
DE: 2415 Equatorial ionosphere
DE: 2435 Ionospheric disturbances
DE: 2437 Ionospheric dynamics
DE: 2439 Ionospheric irregularities
DE: 2471 Plasma waves and instabilities
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly