Our newest recruit, MSc Candidate Hemani Kalucha, introduces herself in this post reflecting back on what she did this past summer before joining the PVL.
By Hemani Kalucha
Last summer, I had the opportunity to work at the European Space Agency centre in Leiden, The Netherlands. There are a few charming eccentricities about this place that really define the Dutch experience. To start off, the Dutch bike everywhere. By this I mean, the town of Leiden is only a few km square, practically the size of a university campus if you will, and walking around is a game of constantly dodging the wave of ever-present bikers whizzing past you. The undeniably flat and uniform landscape here is a gift, and they use it well.
They are also the most skilled bikers I have ever seen. The first few times my friend and I tried to bike to work, we were shamefully slow compared to the locals. At my most embarrassing, a guy with no hands on his bike handles, not looking at the road, texting on his phone, pedaled faster than me with ease. It has been surprising to learn the impressive range of a bike. Briefly, I have seen someone roll along their suitcase while biking, walk their horse while biking, carry two other people on their bike, connect two bikes to carry a wooden panel, you get the idea.
As a result of all this biking, Holland has some of the most expensive and interesting bike paths in the world. From the few that I’ve tried out, one was a bike trail through sand dunes and a network of old war bunkers called the Atlantic Wall, one involved biking over a dam with the bright blue sea on both sides, and another used to be a NATO air base runway! The Dutch love their boats as much as they love their bikes. The maze of canals that line the streets of Leiden are forever filled with boat picnics, completely ignorant of my North American perception of a work schedule. I say this a little out of jealousy, but mostly out of respect for their approach to work life balance.
Living in Leiden
Holland by Boat
At the agency, I worked in the Space Environment and Effects section, on the Van Allen Probe mission. My project involved analyzing the plasma data from this live mission. The purpose of this data analysis is to further our understanding of Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) plasma conditions for spacecraft charging. Currently, there is a much better and detailed understanding of this effect for Geostationary orbit (GEO) environment for spacecraft charging. There is a direct correlation between electron temperature and the amount of charging a spacecraft incurs. Based on this correlation, NASA and ECSS (European Cooperation for Space Standardization) have developed electron density and temperature figures for the worst-case charging environment. This standard enables a simulation of the expected charging on a spacecraft through software called SPIS (Spacecraft Plasma Interaction Software). However, for lower earth orbit missions, there are no such confirmed correlations, and the GEO worst case charging environment numbers are applied uniformly in the outer magnetosphere. By assessing the data from the HOPE (Helium Oxygen Proton Electron) instrument, I aimed to develop a new ECSS charging environment specifically for MEO, and therefore improve the risk assessment of charging for future missions in this region (and even current missions such as Galileo).
The Van Allen mission, launched in May 2012, is a set of two identical probes taking simultaneous plasma measurements at different locations in an identical orbit. The advantage of this approach is the ability to look at the inner radiation belt events and study whether the same event occurs at the same time throughout the belt or if it travels through the belt in a wave fashion. The probes follow a highly elliptical near equatorial orbit, ranging from 600 km above the surface at perigee to 32,200 km at apogee, with a 10-degree inclination. For this data analysis, we studied a component that is part of the Energy particle, Composition, Thermal Plasma (ECT) Suite. The suite observes Electrons, Protons, Ions of Oxygen and Helium and the energy and direction of motion of these particles relative to the magnetic field (pitch angle). The specific instrument is called HOPE and is able to observe low energy particles and speeds. Lower energy particles are of particular interest because the electromagnetic waves generated by these particles in turn affect the high-energy particles in the belt. They are, thus, responsible for some key plasma dynamics that need further investigation.
My internship last summer at ESTEC (European Space Research and Technology Centre) in the Space Environment and Effects Section was even more incredible than I could have imagined. I had a wonderful team and mentors who meticulously helped me navigate the problem solving landscape of Van Allen Belt plasma dynamics. Most importantly, I had never been surrounded by so many people so enthusiastic about space all at once. I was able to spend lunches talking about black holes, observe tests in the Planetary Robotics Lab and even have coffee with Matt Taylor, lead project scientist of Rosetta, a mission I had followed obsessively in high school. This experience confirmed that being at a government space agency is where I fit best. And it helped lead me to my current thesis work, where I actively searched for opportunities with NASA JPL.
The Van Allen mission, launched in May 2012, is a set of two identical probes taking simultaneous plasma measurements at different locations in an identical orbit. The advantage of this approach is the ability to look at the inner radiation belt events and study whether the same event occurs at the same time throughout the belt or if it travels through the belt in a wave fashion. The probes follow a highly elliptical near equatorial orbit, ranging from 600 km above the surface at perigee to 32,200 km at apogee, with a 10-degree inclination. For this data analysis, we studied a component that is part of the Energy particle, Composition, Thermal Plasma (ECT) Suite. The suite observes Electrons, Protons, Ions of Oxygen and Helium and the energy and direction of motion of these particles relative to the magnetic field (pitch angle). The specific instrument is called HOPE and is able to observe low energy particles and speeds. Lower energy particles are of particular interest because the electromagnetic waves generated by these particles in turn affect the high-energy particles in the belt. They are, thus, responsible for some key plasma dynamics that need further investigation.
My internship last summer at ESTEC (European Space Research and Technology Centre) in the Space Environment and Effects Section was even more incredible than I could have imagined. I had a wonderful team and mentors who meticulously helped me navigate the problem solving landscape of Van Allen Belt plasma dynamics. Most importantly, I had never been surrounded by so many people so enthusiastic about space all at once. I was able to spend lunches talking about black holes, observe tests in the Planetary Robotics Lab and even have coffee with Matt Taylor, lead project scientist of Rosetta, a mission I had followed obsessively in high school. This experience confirmed that being at a government space agency is where I fit best. And it helped lead me to my current thesis work, where I actively searched for opportunities with NASA JPL.
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