I've returned after spending some time Down Under!
This dish is 70 m across, and received the final data from Cassini |
Before arriving in Adelaide, I took a little detour into Canberra. SGC had organized an optional tour of the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex. I knew very little about the Deep Space Network (DSN) prior to the tour, and didn't even know this site existed beforehand. The extent of my past knowledge sometimes Cassini data were lost if it was "raining in Madrid". Now I know that the NASA operates the DSN out of three facilities: Canberra, Madrid, and Goldstone (California).
I was amazed to see the satellite dish that downlinked the final data from Cassini only days after the her final maneuver. There were also dishes that were actively downlinking from MRO and MSL while we were visiting – I thought that was really cool and inspiring. My first project in planetary geology used Magellan images of Venus, and I learned that 98% of Magellan data were downlinked in Canberra. I would like to be involved with planetary mission work in the future, so understanding the data downlink process is useful to understanding the data limitations faced by scientists in this field.
The Deep Space Communications Complex is located between granitic foothills southwest of Canberra |
Matt, one of my group mates, sketches a flowchart showing
the influences of international policy on industrial liability
and accountability.
|
The SGC international night was at the Adelaide Zoo. This woman is holding a bilby. |
I do love any reason to dress up nice. |
Moving on to IAC. I absolutely loved the
international networking opportunities and having a chance to see what space
agencies around the world are working on. The heads of agencies plenary session
was particularly great for this
because they provided an overview of the priorities and future
goals of each country. ESA gave a plenary session about setting up Moon/Mars Villages, and the vast
range of challenges associated with manned planetary exploration. I found this session interesting because many of the
infrastructural problems associated with constructing Moon/Mars Villages and in
accessing Space Resources are relevant to planetary geology.
In the exhibit hall I learned a lot about the activities
of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), and ESA through the various displays and presentations. For
example, the JAXA booth hosted presentations on the status of Hayabusa-2, its
target, asteroid 162173 Ryugu, and what they learned from Hayabusa-1. Mentioned in a previous post, I worked at the Pheasant Memorial Laboratory in 2015 which was privileged to obtain some of the samples from the first Hayabusa mission, so I was curious about the fate of samples from the next mission. The KARI booth hosted a cultural event where they provided beverages and Korean snacks while talking about their recent innovations in satellite technology. I was delighted that they played K-Pop music videos while esteemed members of the aerospace industry discussed the engineering specifications of the satellites.
Curiosity's twin hanging out in the exhibition hall |
The CSA sponsored students were invited to take part in events hosted by the International Student Education Board (ISEB). At these activities, we met sponsored students from around the world. I made a bunch of friends among the KARI and JAXA sponsored students, whom I hope to stay
in contact with. One of the ISEB networking events took place in the South Australian Museum, coincidentally in the fossil/mineral/meteorite area. This was fantastic because I was able to apply my geo-knowledge and excitedly chat about minerals to anyone who was interested.
I admit that there
weren’t very many technical sessions relevant to planetary geology. I attended a few sessions on planetary
surface exploration and on remote sensing technologies, but many of the
presentations provided information outside of my area of expertise. Most of the
technical sessions I attended were aimed at an engineering audience, and even
though I want to learn more about the cutting edges of space technologies, this
wasn’t the best platform for me to do so.
That being said, I really appreciated the
multidisciplinary nature of the conferences. At IAC, I was able to see the
diversity of disciplines that contribute to space exploration, from rocket and
satellite engineering, space life sciences, government policy, astronomy and
astrophysics, Earth observation, communications, business, and public
education. I had little experience in many of these fields prior to the
congress. I feel that I now have a broader understanding of space-related
fields and how they connect with one another, and this will definitely improve
my perspective throughout my career.
At the "Women in Aeronautics" breakfast, the Director General of ESA, Jan Wörner, spoke about the importance having all types of diversity in a work place |
Thesis update: I'm drying out my samples from our Axel Heiberg Island field trip. Some of the salts and soils are still a bit wet, and need to be a dry powder for doing XRD analysis.
When you don't have sample trays so you use a dozen mini @DAVIDsTEA and one Tetley container to dry your salts 😂 #labwork #Axel2017 pic.twitter.com/7Eg1SV2oJq— Elise Harrington (@Elusieum) October 23, 2017
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