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 Professor Acton'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 participated in the day-to-day operation and scientific utilization of the
	NASA Transition Region And Coronal Explorer (TRACE) mission, until its end in the summer of 2010.
	This battery of 4 ultraviolet telescopes, launched in 1998, provided
	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.
	 
  
	
	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 coordinate the MSU team's participation in the Hinode Mission 
	Operations & Data Analysis.  Other MSU Solar Group members involved in
        XRT operations include Dr. Keiji 
        Yoshimura, Dr. 
	Aki Takeda, and PhD student Mike Freed.
	 
  
	
        I also assisted in design calibrations and observations planning for the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly
	of NASA's Solar Dynamics
	Observatory.  SDO is NASA's flagship for the Living With a
	Star program.  With eight channels operating over a
	range of wavelengths, AIA is the most complex ultraviolet
	telescope ever built.  Following launch in February 2010, MSU faculty
	and students are participating in analysis
	of the scientific data from SDO.
	 
  
 			  
  
			  
			  Back to McKenzie's
			  home page 
			  Back
			  to Solar Physics group
			   
                   |