# Presentation: 514180

## Canadian Report to ILWS WG

- William Liu
- Space Science Branch, Canadian Space Agency

## Opening Remarks

- Canada has benefited significantly from ILWS
- The Canadian community and CSA have established a strong foundation for the program with a healthy mixture of ground-based and space-borne missions for the next 5 years
- We are looking ahead for the next 10

## The Canadian ST Program

- Landmass and history have made ground-based auroral and geomagnetic observations a centerpiece of our program
- CSA has made a long-term commitment to support this element
- It is a no-brainer
- It is cost-effective
- It is hugely productive
- Hundreds of papers
- Dozens of highly qualified people in career positions
- Media coverage and public interest

## The Canadian ST Program

- The CSA is aggressively purusing opportunities for space-borne missions in order to maximize the science that can be done
- ePOP
- SWARM
- ORBITALS
- Kuafu
- PCW mission
- SCOPE/Cross Scale

## The Ground-Based Program

- CGSM
- THEMIS GBO
- AMISR

## Canadian Geospace Monitoring

- The CSA concluded a successful AO last year for the next 5 years of CGSM
- Selected projects are:
- Fluxgate magnetometer array (CARISMA-A) for studies of global-scale current flow
- Induction coil magnetometer array (CARISMA-B) for studies of VLF waves implicated, for example, in the acceleration of killer electrons
- A multispectral auroral all-sky auroral imager array for substorm and related studies
- A meridianal scanning photometer array for detailed characterization of precipitating particles

## Canadian Geospace Monitoring

- Selected projects (continued)
- An arctic ionosonde/GPS/photometer array to characterize polar cap convection, transpolar ionospheric condition, and their effect on auroral activities
- Support of the operation of Canadian SuperDARN (4 radars now, with PolarDARN providing complete northern polar cap coverage)
- A data analysis and modeling module to tackle scientific questions behind the CSGM data
- Also, the CSA is negotiating with its government partners on
- Continuing Canada’s successful program in space weather forecasting and effect mitigation and management

## CGSM at a Glance

## THEMIS GBO

- The CSA will continue to support GBO operation pursuant to NASA’s extension of the THEMIS mission
- Canadian contributions are managed through two contracts
- ASI operation (University of Calgary)
- GMAG operation (University of Alberta)

## THEMIS GBO @ a Glance

## AMISR

- Canada has been interested in AMISR from early on as a major space science facility on Canadian soil
- A ‘chancy meeting’ last October led to the opportunity for Canada to contribute one of the two Resolute AMISR faces at ~$15 M
- Eric Donovan and Jean-Pierre St-Maurice have secured the necessary university allocation to make a bid to Canada Foundation for Innovation funding (a formality in most cases)
**Resolute AMISR, starting operation in ~2010, will be the most advanced instrument to study the polar ionosphere and its connection to auroral ionosphere.**

## Intermission Movies

## Intermission Movies

## Intermission Science

- Ground and space observations nail down the onset wave mode

## The Space Component

- The CSA has pursued a balanced approach in shaping our program. A space component is essential
- Our space component is geospace-centric
- Further, it has a strong IT flavor
- However, we are venturing out to the magnetosphere and radiation belts
- The following describes some ongoing projects

## ePOP

- To be launched in the second half of 2009
- Up to 2-year mission in an elliptical 300  1500 km, 70o  orbit to study
- Acceleration of ion outflow
- O+ ions are a major factor in storms
- Thermal and secondary auroral electrons (up to 100 eV)
- Fast, DMSP-type, auroral imaging in IR/VIS
- Radio tomagraphy of the ionosphere with radio receiver, SuperDARN, beacon, and GPS occulation
- ePOP and C/NOFS form a nice high and low-latitude combo
- Launch delay fortuitous push the mission to potentially overlap SWARM
- Elliptical and circular orbit complementarity, as well as instrument synergy

## SWARM

- Three-satellite ESA mission to study geomagnetic field, 2010-2014
- Canada to build the electric field instrument (CEFI)
- E-field measurement to remove geospace "noise"
- Combined E and B instruments can measure the Poynting flux to W/m2 accuracy
- Constellation plus precision will allow field-aligned current dynamics to be probed in greater detail
- In conjunction with contempraneous magnetospheric missions, will open new doors on MI coupling research

## ORBITALS

- The CSA is finishing Phase A
- A SRR will be conducted next month
- A presentation to CSA Executive is planned in late summer for decision on the project
- Continue to work with NASA on ways of cooperation
- Time is pressing for the upcoming solar max

## Kuafu

- The Chinese space science community gave its seal of approval last June
- The comprehensive review report accepted by CNSA
- CNSA changed the terms of cooperation
- International contributions of bus and launchers solicited
- Situations in Europe also dicy
- Scenarios of decoupling Kuafu A and Kuafu B discussed, but only sporadically
- The September Kuafu meeting in Kunming will tell whether we have a mission or not, and if yes, what it is like

## PCW

- Polar Communications and Weather Satellites is a mission concept study at the CSA – it consists of a pair of Molnya satellites
- Auroral imager is a ‘tertiary’ science payload (but increasing in importance)

## SCOPE/Cross Scale

- Canadian interest early on during Cross Scale proposal stage (University of Alberta part of the magnetometer team and will have CSA support to explore Canadian contribution to this element)
- Interest heightened during my sabbatical at Imperial and almost daily lunch meeting with Steve Schwartz
- The best way for Canada to make a contribution is through SCOPE, due to its spare launch capability
- Discussion started
- Optimistic that something will happen soon.

## Concluding Remarks

- Canada’s ST program is in good shape
- There are some long-term concerns
- Human resource is a greater worry than financial resource for Canada
- The CSA is working with Canadian universities to explore a partnership through which a national institute for space science can be formed through joint Federal and Provincial funding, so that
- Advanced instrument development can be conducted independent of missions
- HQP can be trained in a cutting-edge and challenging environment
- Promising scientists and engineers can be retained
- Stay tuned