The Japanese/US/UK mission called Yohkoh (Japanese for
"sunbeam") carried four scientific instruments: the
Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT), Hard X-ray Telescope
(HXT), Bragg Crystal Spectrometer (BCS), and Wide
Band Spectrometer (WBS). The US Principal
Investigator for SXT was Prof.
Loren Acton, now at MSU. Under Loren's
leadership, the MSU group played a very active role
in the Mission Operations & Data Analysis for
Yohkoh. Ten past & present members of the
MSU Solar Group--faculty and graduate students--participated in the day-to-day
operations of SXT and the Yohkoh spacecraft,
making frequent trips to ISAS,
up until the end of the operational phase of the
mission.
I participate in the day-to-day operation and scientific utilization of the
NASA Transition Region And Coronal Explorer (TRACE) mission which was launched in
1998. This battery of 4 ultraviolet telescopes provides
spectacular observations of the thin and dynamic interface
region at the base of the corona. This region is also the
source of much of the ionizing radiation that determines the
properties of the upper atmosphere of the earth, such as the
ionosphere and the ozone layer. Other MSU Solar Group members
currently working on TRACE operations are Prof. Charles
Kankelborg and PhD student Trae
Winter.
The newest mission in the solar constellation is Hinode. Known as "Solar-B"
prior to launch, Hinode is a follow-on to the very
successful Yohkoh ("Solar-A") mission. As a
Co-Investigator on the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) for Hinode, I
will coordinate the MSU team's participation in the Hinode
Mission Operations & Data Analysis.
I'm also involved in design calibrations and observations planning for the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly
of NASA's Solar Dynamics
Observatory. SDO will be NASA's flagship for the Living With a
Star program. With eight channels operating over a
range of wavelengths, AIA will be the most complex ultraviolet
telescope ever built. Following launch in 2008, MSU faculty
and students will participate in the calibration and analysis
of the scientific data from SDO.
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