August　 4,　2003

Commision G Activity Rreport

 

          K.-I.Oyama, and T. Maruyama

 

1.Scientific satellites

NOZOMI approached the earth on the 19^th June and the earth swing by was successfully conducted. The problem on the power supply will be repeatedly tried to be solved until the end of November.

Hayabusa ,sample return mission,was successfully launced on the 9^th May,2003.

Hayabusa is now under routine operation. The distant between Hayabusa and the earth is about 0.1 AU in June. Three ion engines (one out of  four engines is backup) are being used.

ASTRO-F was postponed its launch after January 2004 because of the mechanical problem on Telescope. Lunar –A is now scheduled in  summer 2004. ASTRO-EII will be January /February 2005.

 

2. Sounding rockets

Wave 2004 rocket experiment which is a follow on mission of WAVE2000 is scheduled its launch in January 2004 in order to study the striation mechanism of atmospheric glow. The ground supports will be reinforced ,by including sodium Lidar. The launch window will be widened to have long time ground based ovservation. The NTV –3 experiment is planned in January 2005 in Andoya Rocket Range the experiment is to study energetics and dynamics of the auroral atmosphere. EISCAT,MFradar ,Fabry Perot Interferrometer and other ground based optical facilities will be coordinated internationally.

 

3.Individual activities

Studies of the ionosphere by using GPS data are being conducted in Kyoto University,Nagoya University, and ISAS under the close communications. Total electron density map over Japan was constructed by the group. During the data evaluation phase, enhanced TEC was found at night,which was finally concluded as resulted from erroneous data processing . The data was reprocessed and distributed to the users by Kyoto University.

Validation of MF radar located at Yamagawa observatory of CRL will be conducted in January 2004.  Electron density profiles obtained with VLF receiver onboard the rocket S-310-33 and obtained with MF radar will be first compared.

MU radar is routinely under operation. During the wave 2004 campaign, the radar will be operated to measure nutral wind.

 

4. IRI NEWS June has been issued. The NEWS has been published since 1993 and distribted more than 300 scientists in the world.

 

5.Workshop and Symposium Announcements

5-1. IRI session in General National URSI meeting.

COSPAR/URSI Working Group of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) is organizing a one day session at the upcoming German National URSI meeting in “Kleinheubach” near Frankfurt/Main to honor Professor Karl Rawer on the occasion of his 90^th birthday. Professor Rawer, who in the 1950’s wrote the first book called “Die Ionosphäre” (later translated into English), started the development of the IRI model more than thirty years ago under the auspices of COSPAR and eventually COSPAR/URSI. During the URSI General Assembly in Maastricht last year, the Working Group members voted to hold a special session at the so-called Kleinheubach URSI Meeting in honor of Professor Rawer.

G.2  Three Decades of the International Reference Ionosphere - a special session in honor of Professor Karl Rawer's 90th Birthday"
Conveners: B. Reinisch and D. Bilitza

This session will be entirely conducted in English. If you are interested in presenting a paper or poster on the topic of Karl Rawer’s life: the ionosphere, please submit your abstract by August 8, 2003.  Details of the meeting and its venues can be found on

http://www.copernicus.org/URSI/kh_tagung/kleinh.htm 

Bodo W. Reinisch

 

5-2. International Reference Ionosphere Workshop 2003, 6-10 October 2003

IRI 2003 workshop will be held in Grahamstown, South Africa from the 6 to 10 October 2003. The overall theme of the workshop is ionospheric variability but all papers relating to the IRI model are welcome. The following sessions have been designed to accommodate the 43 abstracts accepted. The number of papers that will be presented in each session is also shown.

The following countries will be represented at this workshop: China, Brazil, USA, Argentina, South Africa, Austria, Russia, Australia, UK, Japan, Cuba, India, Czech Republic, Mexico, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.

 

 

 

A registration fee of 55 US Dollars will be charged. This fee will include lunches, coffee breaks, all workshop material and the workshop dinner. An excursion is being organized for the Wednesday of the workshop week. Accommodation has been pre arranged for delegates in a number of bed and breakfast establishments located close to the workshop venue. Details can be found on the workshop website.

Day tours have been organized for accompanying persons. Seven possible day trips into the area around and within Grahamstown (for e.g. visits to Bathurst, Port Alfred) are available to choose from for that period. A 3-day tour option is being put together for delegates for after the workshop. This option will include visits to the beautiful eastern cape coast, the Addo elephant national park and the scenic mountain village of Hogsback. Details of these tours will be available on the workshop website by the end of June.

The workshop also has an appointed travel agent that can assist delegates with putting together their own itineries for visiting beautiful South Africa before or after the workshop.

IRI 2003 is sponsored by the International Union of Radio Science (URSI), Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), Rhodes University and GrinTek Ewation (a division of MRCM group).