OpTeC Colloquium

OpTeC sponsors a colloquium throughout the academic year. This is a forum where a wide range of optical science and engineering topics are discussed at a level that can be understood by a broad spectrum of optics students, staff, and faculty. The primary purposes are to train students to give effective scientific talks and to promote cross-disciplinary interactions of students, staff, faculty, and local industry employees. Speakers include MSU students, staff, and faculty, and visitors from external universities, research labs, and companies.

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Thursday, September 12, 2024 at 4:10 pm.

Norm Asbjornson Hall, Room 149

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Exploring Atmospheric Gravity Waves: NASA’s Atmospheric Waves Experiment on the International Space Station

Jed Hancock, Ph.D.,
Space Dynamics Laboratory
Utah State University

Abstract

Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory recently developed and delivered NASA’s Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) mission. AWE is a Heliophysics Small Explorers Mission of Opportunity designed to investigate how terrestrial weather affects space weather via small-scale atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) produced in Earth’s atmosphere. Following its launch to the International Space Station (ISS) in November 2023, AWE began a 2-year mission to explore the global distribution of AGWs, study the processes controlling their propagation throughout the upper atmosphere, and quantify their impacts on the ionosphere–thermosphere–mesosphere (ITM) system. 

The AWE science instrument is an ISS–compatible version of the Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper (AMTM)—a wide field-of-view Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) imager that quantifies gravity wave-induced temperature disturbances in the hydroxyl (OH) airglow layer, which lies near the mesopause at ~87 km altitude. The AMTM’s four identical telescopes make continuous nighttime observations of the P1(2) and P1(4) emission lines of the OH (3,1) band, as well as the atmospheric background simultaneously, from which the OH layer temperature is derived. AWE images are collected once per second, co-added, and processed into temperature swaths using correction algorithms derived from ground calibration test results. Global coverage of the GWs in the OH layer is achieved about every four days, enabling regional and seasonal studies and characterization of AGW ‘hot spots.’ This talk will present an overview of the AWE mission, including science objectives, measurement technique, instrument design and development, pre-launch performance and environmental testing, data processing, and a brief look at on-orbit science results.

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Jed Hancock, as the president of the Space Dynamics Laboratory’s Civil Space Division at Utah State University, oversees a portfolio of sensor system and small satellite projects for government, academic, and commercial customers. His successful record of leading research includes the development of IR, visible, and UV systems such as NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex Camera Suite (OCAMS) detector assemblies and cameras for the NASA Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) mission. Currently, he is the system engineer for the NASA Near Earth Object Camera (NEOCam) instrument and is actively involved in developing future instrumentation for the search for life on the surface of Europa.

Dr. Hancock received an undergraduate degree and a Master of Science in electrical engineering from Utah State University. He earned a Ph.D. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona and was class valedictorian. Dr. Hancock loves to share his enthusiasm for the sciences and learning by teaching classes at the University and serving in his community.

Past Speakers