<<

Space Research

2014 – 2016 in 

Space Research 2014 – 2016 in Switzerland

Report to the 41st COSPAR meeting, Istanbul, Turkey, 30 July – 7 August 2016

Editors: Werner Schmutz and Stephan Nyeki Layout: Stephan Nyeki

Publication by the Swiss Committee on Space Research (Committee of the Swiss Academy of Sciences)

Edition: 1000, printed 2016 PMOD/WRC, Davos, Switzerland

Cover Page: Swiss CaSSIS (Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System) experi- ment onboard the ExoMars . Copyright AIUB.

Background picture: 's view from "Rocknest" looking eastward toward "Point Lake" (center) on the way to "Glenelg Intrigue" (November 26, 2012). White-balanced raw color . Copyright NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems. Contents

Contents

1 Foreword 3

2 Institutes and Observatories 4 2.1 ISSI – International Space Science Institute...... 4 2.2 ISDC ­– INTEGRAL Science Data Centre...... 6 2.3 CODE ­– Center for Determination in Europe...... 8 2.4 eSpace – EPFL Space Engineering Center ...... 10 2.5 SSA – International Space Situational Awareness ...... 11 2.6 SSC – Swiss Space Center...... 12 2.7 Laser Ranging at the Swiss Optical Ground Station and Geodynamics Obs. Zimmerwald . . 14

3 Space Access Technology 15 3.1 ALTAIR – Air Launch Space Transportation Using an Automated Aircraft and an Innovative Rocket. . 15

4 Swiss Space Missions 16 4.1 CHEOPS – Characterising ExOPlanet Satellite...... 16 4.2 CubETH ...... 18 4.3 CleanSpace One...... 20

5 Astrophysics 22 5.1 POLAR ...... 22 5.2 IBEX – Interstellar Boundary Explorer...... 24 5.3 HEAVENS – High- Data Analysis Service ...... 25 5.4 DAMPE – DArk Matter Particle Explorer ...... 26 5.5 Variability Processing and Analysis ...... 28 5.6 LISA Pathfinder/LISA Technology Package...... 30 5.7 SPICA Infrared Observatory ...... 32 5.8 Swiss Contribution to ...... 34 5.9 Swiss Contribution to ASTRO-H/...... 36 5.10 ATHENA – Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics...... 37 5.11 XIPE – The X-Ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer...... 38

6 Solar Physics 40 6.1 The VIRGO Investigation on SoHO, an ESA/NASA Cooperative Mission...... 40 6.2 Probing Solar X-Ray Nanoflares with NuSTAR...... 41 6.3 SPICE – Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment Instrument on ...... 42 6.4 EUI – Extreme Ultraviolet Imager on Solar Orbiter ...... 44 6.5 CLARA – Compact Lightweight Absolute Radiometer on NORSAT-1 ...... 46 6.6 STIX – Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-Rays on Solar Orbiter ...... 48 6.7 DARA – Digital Absolute Radiometer on PROBA-3 ...... 49 6.8 MiSolFA – The Micro Solar-Flare Apparatus...... 50 6.9 FLARECAST – Flare Likelihood and Region Eruption Forecasting ...... 51

1 Contents

7 Observation, 52 7.1 APEX – Airborne Prism Experiment...... 52 7.2 APEX Instrument and Uncertainty Model...... 53 7.3 SPECCHIO – Spectral Information System ...... 54 7.4 HYLIGHT – Integrated Use of Airborne Hyperspectral Imaging Data and Airborne Laser Scanning Data. 55 7.5 Wet Snow Monitoring with Spaceborne SAR...... 56 7.6 Moving Target Tracking in SAR Images...... 58 7.7 Calibration Targets for MetOp-SG Instruments MWS and ICI...... 59 7.8 FLEX – FLuorescence EXplorer Mission...... 60 7.9 SEON – Swiss Earth Observatory Network ...... 61 7.10 EGSIEM – European Service for Improved Emergency Management...... 62 7.11 Relative Normalization of Multi-Sensor Remote Sensing Images with Machine Learning ...... 64

8 Comets, Planets 66 8.1 ROSINA – Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis...... 66 8.2 Seismometer Instrument for NASA InSight Mission ...... 68 8.3 Investigation of the Chemical Composition of Lunar Soils (Luna-Glob and Luna-Resurs Missions). . .70 8.4 Investigation of the Volatiles Contained in Lunar Soils (Luna-Resurs Mission)...... 71 8.5 CaSSIS – The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. . . .72 8.6 BepiColombo ...... 73 8.7 BELA – BepiColombo Laser Altimeter...... 74 8.8 PEP – Particle Environment Package on JUICE...... 76 8.9 SWI – Submillimeter Wave Instrument on JUICE...... 77 8.10 CLUPI – CLose-Up Imager for ExoMars Rover 2020...... 78

9 Life Science 80 9.1 Yeast Bioreactor Experiment...... 80 9.2 SPHEROIDS...... 81 9.3 CEMIOS – Cellular Effects of Microgravity Induced Oocyte Samples...... 82

10 Swiss Space Industries Group 83

11 Index of Authors 85

2 Foreword

1 Foreword

On the occasion of the 41st COSPAR hypothesis to be tested that comets and successfully passed the critical meeting in Istanbul 2016, the Swiss brought water to Earth. ROSINA’s design review, giving green light for national Committee on Space measurements observed that wa- construction of the flight hardware. Research is reporting to the inter- ter on comet 67P /Churyumov- The launch is currently scheduled for national community. The Committee Gerasimenko contains about three the end of 2017. This mission is of on Space Research (COSPAR) is an times more deuterium than wa- special interest and importance to interdisciplinary scientific organiza- ter on Earth. If 67P/Churyumov- the Swiss community as it is the first tion, which is focused on the ex- Gerasimenko is considered to be a Swiss science satellite. change of information on progress typical comet similar to those existing of all kinds of research related to in the early system, then it is As the highlights above illustrate, space. It was established in 1958 by unlikely that comets are the source the Swiss space community is very the International Council for Science of terrestrial water. This successfully healthy and active. For your informa- (ICSU) as a thematic organization to achieves a major goal of the mission, tion and to trigger your interest, the promote scientific research in space and the hypothesis that fer- brochure at hand is a compilation on an international level. COSPAR’s ried water to Earth, is now being more of Swiss national projects related to main activity is the organization of earnestly considered. space research. biennial Scientific Assemblies. A huge compliment goes to the ESA Werner Schmutz The majority of Swiss space research teams who designed a spacecraft President of CSR activities are related to missions of the and instruments back in 1995, built (ESA) and the mission and launched it in 2004. therefore, ESA’s science program is Finally, the space experiment per- of central importance to the Swiss formed to the highest expectations science community. from 2014 to 2016. Most of us have probably long ago disposed of our The ESA mission attracting electronic devices from the turn of the attention among the general public century – but Rosetta’s instruments in the current reporting period was have been in best health and deliv- Rosetta, a space mission designed ered what they were designed for. to visit the comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko. Two years ago, when We have witnessed the launch of the last Swiss COSPAR report ap- the ExoMars mission which, among peared, the latest news about the other experiments, carries the Swiss mission was that the Rosetta space- CaSSIS experiment: the Colour and craft had been successfully woken Stereo Surface Imaging System for from hibernation in January 2014. the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (see Weblinks Looking back, we now recognise the title page). We hope to witness similar incredible success of ESA’s space science highlights as those achieved COSPAR: mission, which culminated in the by ROSINA. http://cosparhq.cnes.fr landing of the probe on the comet’s surface. Looking further into the future, the Swiss Committee on Space Research: Swiss space community is eagerly www.spaceresearch.scnatweb.ch From the Swiss point of view, we are awaiting the operation of the first proud that there is a Swiss experi- Swiss research satellite: CHEOPS, Swiss Commission on Remote Sensing: ment that contributed to the key sci- CHaracterizing ExOPlanet, which was http://www.naturwissenschaften.ch/ ence goals of the ROSETTA mission: selected by ESA’s science program organisations/skf the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for as its first small mission. CHEOPS Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA). was adapted for construction in early Swiss Academy of Sciences: Its measurements allowed the 2014, designed in the last two years, www.scnat.ch

3 Institutes and Observatories

2 Institutes and Observatories

2.1 ISSI – International Space Science Institute

Fields of Research Realizations in 2014 and 2015

The programme of ISSI covers a In total, 149 International Team meet- widespread spectrum of disciplines ings, 9 Workshops, 8 Working Group from the physics of the solar system meetings, and one Forum took place and planetary sciences to astrophys- in the years 2014 and 2015. ISSI wel- ics and cosmology, and from Earth comes about 900 visitors annually. sciences to astrobiology. Furthermore, ISSI offers a unique Introduction environment for facilitating and fos- tering interdisciplinary Earth Science Directors The International Space Science research. Consequently ESA’s Earth Institute (ISSI) is an Institute of Observation Programme Directorate R. Rodrigo (Executive Director) Advanced Studies at which scientists entered a contractual relationship A. Cazenave from all over the world are invited to with ISSI in 2008 to facilitate syn- R. von Steiger work together to analyze, compare and ergistic analysis of projects of the J. Zarnecki interpret their data. Space scientists, International Polar Year, International J. Geiss (Honorary Director) theorists, modelers, ground-based Living Planet Teams, Workshops and observers and laboratory researchers Forum. The contract with the ESA Staff meet at ISSI to formulate interdisci- Earth Science Directorate with ISSI plinary interpretations of experimental has been extended until 2016. 11 Scientific data and observations. Therefore, the 7 Administrative scientists are encouraged to pool their ISSI established jointly with the data and results. The conclusions of National Space Science Centre of Board of Trustees these activities - published in several the Chinese Academy of Sciences journals or books - are expected to (NSSC/CAS) a branch called ISSI- Georges Meylan (Chairman), help identify the scientific requirements BJ (International Space Science École Polytechnique Fédérale de of future space science projects. ISSI’s Institute – Beijing) in 2013. ISSI-BJ Lausanne, Switzerland study projects on specific scientific shares the same Science Committee themes are selected in consultation with ISSI and uses the same study Science Committee with the Science Committee members tools. Since 2014, ISSI has released and other advisers. together with ISSI-BJ an annual joint Tilman Spohn (Chairman), Call for Proposals for International (DLR), ISSI’s operation mode is fivefold: Teams in Space and Earth Sciences. Berlin, International Teams, multi- and in- terdisciplinary Workshops, Working Since 2015, ISSI has held a Forum ev- Contact Information Groups, Visiting Scientists and ery year followed by a Workshop and Forums are the working tools of ISSI. publication of a book in collabora- International Space Science tion with the ESA High-level Science Institute (ISSI) The European Space Agency (ESA), Policy Advisory Committee (HISPAC). Hallerstrasse 6 the Swiss Confederation, and the CH-3012 Bern Swiss National Science Foundation ISSI is also a part of the Europlanet Switzerland (SNF) provide the financial resources 2020 Research Infrastructure (RI) proj- for the ISSI’s operation. The University ect. Europlanet 2020 RI addresses key Tel.: +41 31 631 48 96 of Bern contributes through a grant scientific and technological challenges Fax: +41 31 631 48 97 to the Director and in-kind facilities. facing modern planetary science by Since 2010, the Russian Academy of providing open access to state-of-the- http://www.issibern.ch Sciences is supporting ISSI with an art research data, models and facilities e-mail: [email protected] annual financial contribution. across the European Research Area.

4 Institutes and Observatories

ISSI is a participant in the Europlanet SSSI Volume 49: The Physics of SSSI Volume 55: The Disk in Activity called "Innovation through Accretion on to Black Holes, M. Relation to the Formation of Planets science networking" and is working Falanga, T. Belloni, P. Casella, M. And Their Protoatmospheres, together with eight other Europlanet Gilfanov, P. Jonker, A. King (eds.), M. Blanc et al. (eds.), ISSI Beijing institutes to organize three Workshops ISSI-Workshop held in October Workshop held in August 2014, to and two strategic Forums over the 2012, published in November 2014, be published in 2016. duration of the contract which will ad- ISBN 978-1-4939-2226-0. dress some of the major scientific and Furthermore, results and published technical challenges of present-day SSSI Volume 50: Giant Planet papers of international Teams in scien- planetary sciences. Europlanet 2020 Magnetodiscs and Aurorae, K. tific journals or books can be found in RI will run until 2019. Szegö, N. Achilleos, C. Arridge, ISSI’s Annual Reports 19 (2013 – 2014) S. Badman, P. Delamere, D. and 20 (2014 – 2015), which are avail- All scientific activities result in some Grodent, M. Galland Kivelson, P. able online (http://www.issibern.ch/ form of publication, e.g. in ISSI’s hard- Louarn (eds.), ISSI- and Europlanet publications/ar.html). cover book series Space Sciences Workshop held in November 2012, Series of ISSI (SSSI), ISSI Scientific published in September 2015, ISBN Outlook Report Series (SR), both published 978-1-4939-3394-5. by Springer (reprinted from Space Twenty-nine new International Science Reviews), or individual papers SSSI Volume 53: The Solar Teams , approved in 2015 by the in peer-reviewed international scientific Activity Cycle: Physical Causes Science Committee, are starting journals. As at the end of 2015, 50 and Consequences, A. Balogh, their activities in the twenty-first busi- volumes of SSSI, and 13 volumes of H. Hudson, K. Petrovay, R. von ness year (2015/16). In addition, five SR have been published. Information Steiger (eds.), ISSI-Workshop held in Workshops will take place in the 21st about the complete collection can be November 2013, published in April business year: found on ISSI’s website http://www.is- 2015, ISBN 978-1-4939-2583-4. sibern.ch, in the section "Publications". • Jets and in Pulsar Nebulae and -ray Bursts. Publications Forthcoming Publications • High Performance Clocks, with The following new volumes appeared SSSI Volume 51: Multi-Scale special emphasis on Geodesy and in 2014 and 2015: Structure Formation and Dynamics Geophysics and applications to in Cosmic Plasmas, A. Balogh et al. other bodies of the Solar System SSSI Volume 46: The Earth's (eds.), ISSI-Workshop held in April (ISSI Workshop in collaboration Hydrological Cycle, L. Bengtsson, 2013, to be published in 2016. with HISPAC). R.-M. Bonnet, M. Calisto, G. Destouni, R. Gurney, J. SSSI Volume 52: Plasma Sources • Shallow Clouds, , Johannessen, Y. Kerr, W. A. Lahoz, of Solar System Magnetosphere, A. Circulation and Sensitivity. M. Rast (eds.), ISSI Workshop, F. Nagy et al. (eds.), ISSI Workshop February 2012, published in July held in September 2013, to be pub- • The Scientific Foundation of Space 2014, ISBN 978-94-017-8788-8. lished in 2016. Weather.

SSSI Volume 47: Microphysics of SSSI Volume 54: The Strongest Cosmic Plasmas, A. Balogh, A. Magnetic Fields in the Universe, Bykov, P. Cargill, R. Dendy, T. Dudok V. S. Beskin et al. (eds.), ISSI de Wit, J. Raymond (eds.), ISSI Workshop held in February 2014, to Workshop, Apr. 2012, publ. February be published in 2016. 2014, ISBN 978-1-4899-7412-9.

5 Institutes and Observatories

2.2 ISDC ­– INTEGRAL Science Data Centre

Purpose of Research Status

The INTEGRAL Science Data Centre INTEGRAL was launched in October Institute (ISDC) was established in 1996 as 2002 and its data are an important a consortium of 11 European insti- tool of the worldwide high-energy Dept. Astronomy, tutes plus NASA. It has a central role astrophysics community. They have Univ. Geneva (UNIGE) in the ground-segment activities for generated about 100 PhD theses ESA’s INTernational Gamma-Ray (with 15 ongoing), more than 2200 In Cooperation with Laboratory (INTEGRAL). INTEGRAL publications (900 in referred jour- operates a hard-X-ray imager with nals, increasing steadily), and sev- European Space Agency a wide field-of-view, a gamma-ray eral astronomical telegrams per German Aerospace Center polarimeter, a radiation monitor, and month. Moreover, every second day, Polish Academy of Sciences X-ray and optical monitors, which a gamma-ray burst is detected by Istituto Nazionale di Astro., Italy have significantly advanced our INTEGRAL and an automatic alert APC, France knowledge of high-energy astrophys- is sent to robotic telescopes within CNRS, France ical phenomena. INTEGRAL's ground seconds of the detection so that the DTU Space, segment activities are divided into GRBs can be localised. Centro de Astrobiología, Mission Operation Center, Science Operation Center (both operated by INTEGRAL carries the most sensi- Prinicipal Investigator European Space Agency), and the tive all-sky monitor for gamma-ray ISDC, which is a PI partner of the mis- bursts without localisation capability T. J.-L. Courvoisier (UNIGE) sion and provides essential services and is an essential tool to discover a for the astronomical community to gamma-ray counterpart of a gravita- Method exploit the mission data. tional wave event (Savchenko et al., 2016). ESA has conducted reviews Measurement ISDC processes the telemetry from in the past years, and concluded that the spacecraft to elaborate a set of fuel consumption, solar panel and bat- Developments widely usable products and it per- tery ageing and orbital evolution will forms a quick-look analysis to as- allow the mission to be prolonged for Data from the INTEGRAL gamma-ray sess the data quality and discover many more years. In 2016, an opera- space observatory are processed, transient astronomical events. These tional review will ascertain the reliability archived, and distributed to scientists products are distributed to guest ob- of INTEGRAL for the next extension worldwide together with the software servers and archived at ISDC, which (2017 – 2018). Further extensions will to analyze them. Quick-look and au- is the only source of publicly acces- be discussed based on the scientific tomated analyses ensure the data sible and distributed INTEGRAL data. relevance of the mission and budget quality and the discovery of relevant ISDC also has the task of integrat- constraints. astronomical events. ing and distributing software with handbooks for the offline analysis ISDC is an essential pillar of the mis- Contact Information of INTEGRAL data together and to sion and is currently funded by the support users. Only as a result of the , the University INTEGRAL Science Data Centre, ISDC contribution are data available of Geneva, and ESA, with contribu- Astronomical Obs., Univ. Geneva, to the community. tions from the German DLR through CH-1290 Versoix, Switzerland the Inst. Astronomy and Astrophysics The presence of the ISDC has guar- Tübingen, and the Nicolaus Copernicus Tel.: +41 22 379 21 00 anteed Swiss scientists a central role Astronomical Center of the Polish Fax: +41 22 379 21 33 in the exploitation of INTEGRAL data. Academy of Sciences. It scientific and To date, ISDC members have partici- technical personnel works in syner- http://www.isdc.unige.ch/integral pated in almost 20% of papers based gy with other space missions in the e-mail: [email protected] on INTEGRAL data. Department of Astronomy.

6 Institutes and Observatories

To ensure data quality and to ex- Publications ploit the potential of the INTEGRAL observatory, the ISDC staff continu- 1. Courvoisier, T. J.-L., et al., (2003), ously performs scientific validation to The INTEGRAL Science Data report relevant "hot" discoveries in Centre (ISDC), A&A, 411, L53 – L57. collaboration with guest observers. Remarkably, INTEGRAL managed 2. Papitto, A., C. Ferrigno, E. Bozzo et to capture the first pulsar swinging al., (2013), Swings between rotation from accretion and rotation powered and accretion power in a binary emission, which has been searched millisecond pulsar, Nature, 501, for since the first evolutionary theo- 7468, 517 – 520. ries appeared in 1982 (Papitto et al., 2013). It followed the extraordinary 3. Savchenko, V., C. Ferrigno et al., outburst of the black-hole binary (2016), INTEGRAL upper limits on V404 Cyg in 2015 and 2016 for which gamma-ray emission associated ISDC has provided ready-to-use data. with the event ISDC is leading a Memorandum of GW150914, Astrophys. J. Lett., Schematic view of the INTEGRAL ground Understanding between INTEGRAL 820, L36, 5 pp. segment activities. and the LIGO-Virgo consortium to follow-up on-line triggers of potential gravitational wave events, which are confidentially distributed.

Follow-up studies performed at ISDC are mainly in the field of high-energy astrophysics, which was and remains its core science. Although a significant fraction of the research topics are linked to areas in which INTEGRAL makes a significant contribution, a variety of oth- er observation facilities, such as XMM- , , Chandra, , and Fermi, have so far been exploited. The science topics span from nearby X-ray binaries up to cosmological scales, with the study of active galactic nuclei and clusters of galaxies.

Based on an approach merging high- energy astrophysics with particle phys- ics, astroparticle physics is rapidly developing around ISDC. Its central topics are the nature of dark matter and dark energy, the origin of cosmic rays and astrophysical particle accel- erators. Research in this field needs data from space and ground-based gamma-ray telescopes which operate at higher .

7 Institutes and Observatories

2.3 CODE –­ Center for Orbit Determination in Europe

Purpose of Research center following this approach. In the meanwhile, other IGS analysis Using measurements from Global centers have started to follow this Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) strategy as well. is (among many other applications) well established for the realization of In a seperate processing line, a fully the global reference frame, the in- integrated five-system solution has vestigation of the system Earth, or developed, including the established the precise geolocation of Low Earth GNSS, GPS and GLONASS but also Orbiting (LEO) in space. To the currently developed systems, support the scientific use and the de- namely the European , the velopment of GNSS data analysis, Chinease BeiDou, and the Japanease the International GNSS Service (IGS) QZSS. The resulting solution is gen- was established by the International erated in the frame of the IGS multi- Institute Association of Geodesy (IAG) in 1994. GNSS extension (IGS MGEX).

Astronomical Institute, CODE is one of the leading global Univ. Bern (AIUB), Bern analysis centers of the IGS. It is a Status joint venture of the Astronomical In Cooperation with Institute of the University of Bern The main products are precise GPS (AIUB), Bern, Switzerland, the and GLONASS , satellite and Bundesamt für Landestopographie Bundesamt für Landestopographie receiver clock corrections, station (swisstopo), Wabern, Switzerland (swisstopo), Wabern, Switzerland, coordinates, Earth orientation param- the Bundesamt für Kartographie eters, troposphere zenith path delays, Bundesamt f. Kart. . Geodäsie und Geodäsie (BKG), Frankfurt and maps of the total ionospheric (BKG), Frankfurt a. M., Germany a.M., Germany, and the Institute of electron content. The coordinates Astronomical and Physical Geodesy of the global IGS tracking network IAPG, Technische Universität (IAPG) of the Technische Universität are computed on a daily basis for München, Germany München, Munich, Germany. Since studying vertical and horizontal site the early pilot phase of the IGS (21 displacements and plate motions, PrincipalSwiss Investigator June 1992) CODE has been running and to provide information for the re- continuously. The operational pro- alization of the International Terrestrial R. Dach (AIUB) cessing is located at AIUB using the Reference Frame (ITRF). The daily Bernese GNSS Software package positions of the Earth's rotation axis Co-Investigators that is developed and maintained at with respect to the Earth's crust, as AIUB for many years. well as the exact length-of-day, is de- A. Jäggi (AIUB) termined each day and provided to E. Brockmann (swisstopo) Nowadays, data from about 250 glob- the International Earth Rotation and D. Thaller (BKG) ally distributed IGS tracking stations Reference Systems Service (IERS). U. Hugentobler (IAPG) are processed every day in a rigorous combined multi-GNSS (currently the Apart from regularly generated Method American Global Positioning System products, CODE significantly con- (GPS) and the Russian counterpart tributes to the development and im- Measurement GLONASS) processing system of all provement of modeling standards. IGS product lines (with different laten- Members of the CODE group con- Developments cies). CODE started with the inclusion tribute or chair different IGS working of GLONASS in its regular processing groups, e.g., the working group on GNSS data analysis and software scheme back in May 2003. For five Bias and Calibration. With the on- development years it has been the only analysis going modernization programs of

8 Institutes and Observatories

the established GNSS and the up- Publications coming GNSS, e.g., the European Galileo, such work is highly relevant A list of recent publications is avail- because of the increasing manifold able at: of signals that need to be consis- tently processed in a fully combined http:// www.bernese.unibe.ch multi-GNSS analysis scheme. Other contributions from CODE are the derivation of calibration values for the GNSS satellite antenna phase center model, GLONASS ambiguity resolution, and the refinement of the CODE orbit model.

Abbreviations

CODE Center for Orbit Determination in Europe GNSS Global Navigation Satellite Systems GPS Global Positioning System GLONASS Globalnaja Nawigazionnaja Sputnikowaja Sistema IGS International GNSS Service ITRF International Terrestrial Reference Frame LEO QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System

Network of stations processed by CODE for its final processing scheme (status: March 2016).

9 Institutes and Observatories

eSpace 2.4 eSpace – EPFL Space Engineering Center EPFL SPACE Mission acquire extensive formal teaching in ENGINEERING the field. These theoretical classes are The EPFL Space Engineering Center complemented by hands-on multidis- CENTER (eSpace) shall contribute to space ciplinary projects, which often lead knowledge and exploration by provid- to the construction of real hardware ing world-class education, leading (e.g. SwissCube, with ~200 students space technology developments, co- involved). Several projects are cur- ordinating multi-disciplinary learning rently ongoing at eSpace, including projects and taking EPFL's laboratory CubETH (a second "CubeSat" and research to space. natural successor to SwissCube) and CleanSpace One, which will dem- Vision onstrate de-orbiting technologies necessary for removal. To establish EPFL as a world re- nowned Center of Excellence in The center possesses expertise Space Engineering, and creating in- particularly in the field of system en- telligent space systems in service to gineering, including Muriel Richard- humankind. Noca and Anton Ivanov as part of its senior staff, two experienced scien- Description tists who worked at NASA-JPL prior to joining EPFL. eSpace also relies The Space Engineering Center (eS- on close collaborations with research pace) is an interdisciplinary entity laboratories and institutes at EPFL. Institute with the mission of promoting space In many cases, the research and related research and development at development activities performed EPFL Space Engineering Center EPFL. eSpace was created in 2014 are carried out directly within these (eSpace) following a restructuring of the "Swiss entities, with support or coordination Space Centre". eSpace is active in from eSpace. In this way, the center Director three key areas: education, devel- can lean on an extensive knowledge opment projects and fundamental base and state-of-the-art research H. Shea (EPFL) research. The center coordinates in a number of areas, ranging from the minor in Space Technologies, robotics to computer vision, and help Deputy Director which allows master-level students to take these technologies to space.

S. Dandavino (EPFL) hands on exploratory learning Staff projects education projects

5 Scientific, 4 Admin.

Contact Information

EPFL Space Engineering Center research flight EPFL – ENT – ESC, Station 13 at epfl projects CH-1015 Lausanne Tel: +41 (0) 21 693 6948 Fax: +41 (0) 21 693 6940 email: [email protected] technology URL: http://eSpace.epfl.ch demonstrations

10 Institutes and Observatories

2.5 SSA – International Space Situational Awareness

Purpose of Research as the surveys performed by KIAM, using the ISON telescopes, provide The central aim of Space Situational the data to maintain orbit catalogs Awareness (SSA) is to acquire infor- of high-altitude space debris. These mation about natural and artificial catalogs enable follow-up observa- objects in Earth orbits. The growing tions to further investigate the physi- number of so-called space debris (ar- cal properties of the debris and to tificial non-functional objects) results eventually discriminate sources of Graphical representation of the space debris population of in an increasing threat to operational small-size debris. objects >1 cm as seen from three Earth radii (ILR TUB). satellites and manned . Results from this research are used Research in this domain aims at a as key input data for the European Institute better understanding of the near- ESA meteoroid and space debris Earth environment through extend- reference model MASTER. The Astronomical Institute ing the catalogs of "known" space AIUB telescopes constitute primary Univ. Bern (AIUB), Bern objects toward smaller sizes, by optical sensors in the ESA Space acquiring statistical orbit information Situational Awareness preparatory In Cooperation with on small-size objects in support of program. statistical environment models, by European Space Agency (ESA) characterizing objects to assess their nature and to identify the sources of Publications Keldish Institute of Applied space debris. Mathematics (KIAM), Moscow 1. Siminski, J. A., O. Montenbruck, The research is providing the scien- H. Fiedler, T. Schildknecht, (2014), International Scientific Optical tific rationale to devise efficient space Short-arc tracklet association for Observation Network (ISON) debris mitigation and remediation geostationary objects, Adv. Space measures enabling sustainable outer Res., 53, 1184 – 1194. Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und space activities. Raumfahrt (DLR)/German Space 2. Linder, E., J. Silha, T. Schildknecht, Operation Centre (GSOC) M. Hager, (2015), Extraction of spin Status periods of space debris from op- Principal Investigators tical light curves, Proc. 66th Int. This is an ongoing international col- . Cong., Jerusalem, Israel. T. Schildknecht (AIUB) laboration between the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern 3. Zittersteijn, M., A. Vananti, T. Co-Investigators (AIUB), the Keldish Institute of Applied Schildknecht, J. C. Dolado-Perez, Mathematics (KIAM), Moscow, ESA, V. Martinot, (2015), Associating op- V. Agapov (KIAM) and DLR. Optical surveys per- tical measurements and estimat- H. Fiedler (DLR) formed by AIUB using its ZIMLAT ing orbits of geocentric objects and ZimSMART telescopes in through population-based meta- Method Zimmerwald and the ESA telescope heuristic methods., Proc. 66th Int. in Tenerife on behalf of ESA, as well Astron. Cong., Jerusalem, Israel. Measurement, Compilation

Abbreviations Observatories

SSA Space Situational Awareness Zimmerwald, Switzerland ZIMLAT Zimmerwald Laser and Astrometry Telescope Siding Spring, Australia ZimSMART Zimmerwald SMall Aperture Robotic Telescope ESA, Tenerife ISON telescopes

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2.6 SSC – Swiss Space Center

Mission Members

The Swiss Space Center (SSC) pro- At the end of 2015, the Swiss Space vides a service supporting institu- Center counted 32 members from tions, academia and industry to each region of Switzerland, who Director access space missions and related represent all types of companies applications, and promote interaction (large size, medium and start-up), V. Gass (EPFL) between these stakeholders. academies (Swiss Federal Institutes, Universities, Universities of applied Staff Roles sciences), Research and Technology Organizations and institutions. 3 Professors • To network Swiss research insti- 15 Scientific & Technical tutions and industries on national Activities 2015 3 Administrative and international levels in order to establish focused areas of excel- Pursuing its mission to bring Swiss Board of Directors lence internationally recognized for space actors together, the Swiss both space R&D and applications. Space Center established three D. Neuenschwander (SERI/SSO) working groups in 2014, addressing P. Gillet (EPFL) • To facilitate access to and imple- the following domains: education, D. Günther (ETHZ) mentation of space projects for miniaturization & mini- or micro-sys- Swiss research institutions and tems, high precision mechanisms & Steering Committee industries. structures. A new working group on Earth observation & Remote sensing N. de Rooij (EPFL), Chairman • To provide education and training. was proposed by the members and M. Rothacher (ETHZ) accepted by the steering commit- U. Frei (SSO) • To promote public awareness of tee in June 2015. These network- S. Krucker (Acad. rep.) space. ing platforms give the members the A. M. Madrigal (RTO rep.) U. Meier (Industry rep.) C. Schori (Industry rep.)

Contact Information

Swiss Space Center EPFL, PPH338, Station 13 CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland Tel.: +41 21 693 69 48 http://space.epfl.ch

ETH Zurich, c/o Inst. Geodesy and Photogrammetry, HIL C61.3, Stefano-Franscini Platz 5, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland Tel.: +41 44 633 30 56 www.space.ethz.ch The Swiss Space Center.

12 Institutes and Observatories

An ESA-NPI co-funded PhD thesis carried out at the Swiss Space Center is focused on additive manufacturing. Periodic cellular structures in aluminum alloy (AlSi12) done by selective laser melting could be a great advantage in solving the eternal mass saving problem for space applications. These kinds of structure could reduce the weight of spacecraft by allowing the integration into structural panels of other functions such as heat exchange, energy absorption, micro- meteoroid and orbitals debris (MMOD) shielding or even radiation protection.

to present their activities developments in laser technology In parallel, two selections of the new and express their opinions. will push the boundaries of science National Trainee Program (NTP) were and technology. This workshop was carried out by the SSC. This pro- A workshop was hosted in June extended to UK representatives in gram, funded by SERI/SSO, allows 2015 by the Time and Frequency October 2015 with the support of six Swiss citizens (young graduates) Laboratory of the University of the British Embassy in Switzerland. to work in one of the ESA centers Neuchatel which was inspired by the Four different themes were ad- across Europe for a maximum of two working group on Miniaturization and dressed: LASER fundamentals, future years. The SSC is also involved in the Mini- or Micro-Systems (M3S). In this LASER developments, applications ESA Networking Partnering Initiative first Swiss workshop on "LASER for for High-Power LASERs and space (NPI) with two co-funded PhD theses Space Applications", experts from applications. where the candidate will spend three over ten Swiss organizations (aca- months per year directly at ESA. Work demia, Research and Technology In support of the Swiss Space Office from one of these theses is illustrated Organizations (RTO) and industry) (SERI/SSO) for the implementation in the figure above. came together to present and discuss of Swiss , the SSC has the development and use of lasers for launched two "Call for Ideas" in 2015. In addition, the continuation of educa- space applications. The first one targeted short stud- tion classes, space careers events, ies addressing new innovations for participation in public presentations Lasers are key components for many space. The second one aimed "to and the international space summer scientific instruments and technolo- select the best concepts for a future camp are other activities the Swiss gies, such as next-generation atom- small mission". These initiatives were Space Center conducts throughout ic clocks, spectrometers and laser a great success with more than 30 the year with its partners in different telecommunication systems. Novel proposals submitted in total. Swiss locations.

13 Institutes and Observatories

2.7 Satellite Laser Ranging at the Swiss Optical Ground Station and Geodynamics Obs. Zimmerwald

Purpose of Research to spaceborne optical transponders such as the Lunar Reconnaissance The Zimmerwald Geodynamics Orbiter (LRO). Observatory is a station of the global tracking network of the International The highly autonomous manage- Laser Ranging Service (ILRS). SLR ment of the SLR operations by the observations to satellites equipped in-house developed control software with laser retro-reflectors are ac- is mainly responsible for Zimmerwald quired with the monostatic 1-m Observatory evolving into one of the multi-purpose Zimmerwald Laser most productive SLR stations world- Above: The 1-meter Zimmerwald Laser and Astrometry and Astrometric Telescope (ZIMLAT). wide in the last decade. Telescope (ZIMLAT) Target scheduling, acquisition and This achievement is remarkable when Right page: Laser beam transmitted from the 1-meter tracking, and signal optimization can considering the facts that weather Zimmerwald Laser and Astrometry Telescope (ZIMLAT) to be performed fully autonomously conditions in Switzerland only allow measure high accuracy distances of artificial satellites.. whenever weather conditions per- operations about two thirds of the mit. The collected data are delivered time, and that observation time is in near real-time to the global ILRS shared during nights between SLR data centers, while official products operations and the search for space are generated by the ILRS analysis debris with CCD cameras attached centers using data from the geodetic to the multi-purpose telescope. satellites LAGEOS and Etalon.

SLR significantly contributes to the re- Publications alization of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF), especially 1. Ploner, M., P. Lauber, M. Prohaska, Institute with respect to the determination of P. Ruzek, T. Schildknecht, A. Jäggi, the origin and scale of the ITRF. (2015), History of the laser obser- Astronomical Institute, vations at Zimmerwald, Proc.19th Univ. Bern (AIUB) Status Int. Workshop on Laser Ranging, Annapolis, Maryland, USA. In Cooperation with The design of the 100 Hz Nd:YAG la- ser system used at the Swiss Optical 2. Schildknecht, T., A. Jäggi, M. Bundesamt für Landestopographie Ground Station and Geodynamics Ploner, E. Brockmann, (2015), (swisstopo), Wabern, Switzerland Observatory Zimmerwald enables a The Swiss Optical Ground Station high flexibility in the selection of the and Geodynamics Observatory Principal Investigator actual firing rate and epochs, which Zimmerwald, Swiss National also allows for synchronous operation Report on the Geodetic Activities T. Schildknecht (AIUB) in one-way laser ranging experiments in the years 2011 – 2015.

Co-Investigators

P. L a u b e r Abbreviations M. Ploner A. Jäggi (AIUB) ILRS International Laser Ranging Service ITRF International Terrestrial Reference Frame Method LRO Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter SLR Satellite Laser Ranging Measurement ZIMLAT Zimmerwald Laser and Astrometry Telescope

14 Space Access Technology

3 Space Access Technology

3.1 ALTAIR – Air Launch Space Transportation Using an Automated Aircraft and an Innovative Rocket

Purpose of Research upper stage and innovative avionics contribute to mission flexibility and ALTAIR’s strategic objective is to cost reduction, paired with novel demonstrate the economic and ground system architectures. All technical viability of a novel European systems are optimized by exploiting launch service for the rapidly growing multi-disciplinary techniques, and the small satellites market. The system is resulting design will be supported specially designed to launch satel- by flight experiments to advance the lites in the 50 – 150 kg range into maturity of key technologies. Low-Earth Orbits, in a reliable and cost-competitive manner. Within the ALTAIR project, the ETH Institute Zurich will lead the development of The ALTAIR system comprises of the launcher structure. By exploit- Insitute of Design, Materials and an expendable built ing advanced composite materials, Fabrication, ETH Zurich (ETHZ) around hybrid propulsion and light- implementing novel and structurally weight composite structures, which is optimized designs, as well as tailoring In Cooperation with air-launched from an unmanned car- the composite manufacturing pro- rier aircraft at high altitudes. Following cesses, the structural performance ONERA, France separation, the carrier aircraft returns of the vehicle will be increased, Bertin Technologies, France to the launch site, while the rocket thereby enabling the launch of heavier Piaggio Aerospace, Italy propels the payload into orbit, making payloads. GTD Sistemas de Inform., Spain the entire launch system partly reus- Nammo Raufoss, able and more versatile than exist- These state-of-the-art design tech- SpaceTec Partners, Belgium ing rideshare and piggyback launch niques will eventually advance the CNES, France solutions. technology of lightweight systems and promote the use of composite Principal Investigator ALTAIR will hence provide a dedicat- materials in launch vehicles, expand- ed launch service for small satellites, ing the current bounds of structural Nicolas Berend enabling on-demand and affordable efficiency. space access to a large spectrum Swiss Principal Investigator of users, from communication and Status Earth observation satellite operators P. Ermanni (ETHZ) to academic and research centers, The project, funded through the EU for whom launch solutions were previ- "Horizon 2020" program, started in Co-Investigators ously not easily accessible. December 2015. The consolidation of target mission and costs through G. Molinari The key feature of the expendable market analyses has been complet- C. Karl rocket will be an advanced light- ed, and the output in terms of high weight composite structure, de- level requirements is being used to Method signed around environmentally green perform subsequent specific studies hybrid propulsion stages. A versatile at systems level. Measurements and Simulation

Developments

Time-Line From To Development and construction of a Planning Dec. 2015 Jun. 2017 50 – 150 kg-class satellite launcher Construction Jul. 2017 Mar. 2018 based on a hybrid aircraft-rocket Measurement Phase Apr. 2018 Dec. 2018 design for low-cost, low-Earth-orbit Data Evaluation Apr. 2018 Dec. 2018 space access.

15 Swiss Space Missions

4 Swiss Space Missions

4.1 CHEOPS – Characterising ExOPlanet Satellite

Purpose of Research • Bring new constraints on the at- mospheric properties of known CHEOPS is the first mission dedicat- hot via phase curves. ed to search for transits of exoplanets by means of ultrahigh precision pho- • Provide unique targets for detailed tometry on bright stars already known atmospheric characterisation by to host planets. future ground- (e.g. the European Extremely Large Telescope, It will provide the unique capability E-ELT) and space-based (e.g. the of determining accurate radii for a James Webb , subset of those planets for which the JWST) facilities with spectroscopic mass has already been estimated capabilities. from ground-based spectroscopic CHEOPS SQM satellite model at ESA ESTEC for accoustic testing. surveys, providing on-the-fly char- In addition, 20% of the CHEOPS ob- acterisation for exoplanets located serving time will be made available to almost everywhere in the sky. the community through a selection process carried out by ESA, in which It will also provide precise radii for a wide range of science topics may new planets discovered by the next be addressed. generation of ground- or space- based transits surveys (Neptune-size Status and smaller). The Structural Thermal Model Institute By unveiling transiting exoplanets (STM) campaign has been success- with high potential for in-depth char- fully completed on instrument and Center for Space and Habitability & acterization, CHEOPS will also pro- spacecraft. Institute of Physics, vide prime targets for future instru- Univ. Bern (UNIBE) ments suited to the spectroscopic The instrument Engineering Model characterisation of exoplanetary (EM) has been delivered to the space- In Cooperation with atmospheres. craft, and spacecraft level testing of the EM will commence shortly. Institut für Weltraumforschung Graz In particular, CHEOPS will: Centre Spatial de Liege The instrument has gone through ETH Zurich • Determine the mass-radius rela- Critical Design Review (CDR), while EPFL Space Engineering Center tion in a planetary mass range for system CDR is on-going. Observatoire Geneve which only a handful of data exist Lab. d’Astrophysique de Marseille and to a precision not previously Publications DLR Inst. for Planetary Research achieved. DLR Inst. for Optical Sensor Systems 1. Broeg, et al., (2013), CHEOPS: Konkoly Observatory • Identify planets with significant at- A photometry mission for INAF Osserv. Astrofisico di Catania mospheres in a range of masses, ESA’s small mission programme, distances from the host star, and EPJ conf., 47, p. 3005. INAF Osserv. Astro. di Padova stellar parameters. Centro de Astrofisica da Univer­si­ 2. Fortier, A., T. Beck, W. Benz, C. dade do Porto • Place constraints on possible Broeg, V. Cessa, D. Ehrenreich, N. Engenharia planet migration paths followed Thomas, (2014), CHEOPS: A space Onsala Space Observatory during the formation and evolution telescope for ultra-high precision Stockholm University of planets. photometry of exoplanet transits, Univ. Warwick Proc. SPIE 9143, 91432J.

16 Swiss Space Missions

Abbreviations Principal Investigator

CHEOPS CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite W. Benz (UNIBE) CDR Critical Design Review E-ELT European Extremely Large Telescope Co-Investigators JWST James Webb Space Telescope SQM Spacecraft Qualification Model T. Barczy W. Baumjohann STM Structural Thermal Model T. Beck C. Broeg M. Davies M. Deleuil D. Ehrenreich A. Fortier Time-Line From To M. Gillon A. Gutierrez Planning Mar. 2013 Feb. 2014 L. Kiss A. L.-d-Etangs Construction Mar. 2014 End 2017 G. Olofsson G. Piotto Measurement Phase 2018 Mid 2021 D. Pollacco D. Queloz Data Evaluation 2018 Onwards R. Ragazzoni E. Renotte N. Santos T. Spohn M. Steller S. Udry and the CHEOPS Team

Method

Measurement

Development and Construction of Instruments

Switzerland is responsible for the de- velopment, assembly, and verification of a 32 cm diameter telescope as well as the development and operation of the mission's ground segment.

Industrial Hardware Contract to

Almatech Connova AG CHEOPS Structural and Thermal Model (STM) in the CHEOPS Lab at the University of Bern Pfeiffer Vacuum AG being prepared for the environmental tests. P&P RUAG Space

17 Swiss Space Missions

4.2 CubETH

Purpose of Research 1) u-blox AG is supplying GNSS chips and knowledge on chip algorithms. CubETH is a project to evaluate low-cost Global Navigation Satellite 2) RUAG Space is helping with test- Systems (GNSS) sensors on a nano- ing procedures and the analysis of satellite by following the CubeSat test data. standard. GNSS sensors will be used for precise orbit determination and 3) Saphyrion is helping with exper- validation of attitude determination tise in electrical systems and beacon of the cube. The project will verify design. in-space use of commercial off-the- shelf (COTS) GNSS detectors and 4) ELSE SA is supporting the design novel algorithms for onboard data and fabrication of the bus. processing. Integrated mechanical model of By 2016, over a hundred students CubETH ©Space Engineering Center A programme goal of the project is and staff were involved in the project to encourage cooperation between across five different schools, rang- ETHZ and EPFL schools, involving ing from bachelor students to senior engineers and students from fed- scientists and professors. Institute eral schools as well from the HES/ FH domain. The project will serve to Geodesy and Geodynamics Lab., educate new generations of highly Status ETH Zurich (ETHZ) qualified engineers. PDR was passed in early 2015. By EPFL Space Engineering Center, The Geodesy and Geodynamics Lab. mid-2015, a structural model of the (eSpace), EPFL at the ETHZ is responsible for the satellite was constructed and vibra- scientific instrument (payload). GNSS tion-tested. The electrical model (also In Cooperation with sensors are provided by the Swiss known as FlatSat) is now under de- company u-blox AG. The Space veloment. It represents all electrical Hochschule Lucerne Engineering Center is working on the and data interfaces (payload, con- satellite bus (1U-Cubesat). Both main trol and data management, elec- Hochschule Rapperswil responsible entities (ETHZ and EPFL) trical power and communication). work closely together with the differ- Programmatic considerations now Haute école spécialisée de Suisse ent "Fachhochschulen" and industry target a launch in 2018. occidentale – HES-SO, Sion partners of Switzerland.

u-blox AG Final integration and testing will be Publications performed at the Space Engineering RUAG Space, Switzerland Center. Science operations will be 1. Ivanov, A. B., M. Rothacher, L. driven by ETHZ in close collabora- Masson, S. Rossi, F. Belloni, ELSE SA tion with ground stations for mission N. Mullin, R. Wiesendanger, C. operations located at the Hochschule Hollenstein, B. Mannel, D. Willi, CSEM Lucerne and Hochschule Rapperswil. M. Fisler, P. Fleischman, H. Mathis, M. Klaper, M. Joss, and Saphyrion Collaboration with industry is very E. Styger, (2015), CubETH: Nano- important for this project. The follow- satellite mission for orbit and at- Principal Investigator ing companies are playing a vital role titude determination using low-cost in various aspects: GNSS receivers, 66th International M. Rothacher (ETHZ) Astronautical Congress.

18 Swiss Space Missions

Abbreviations Project Manager

1U-CubeSat Standard unit volume for pico-satellites 10 x 10 x 10 cm A. Ivanov COTS Commercial off-the-shelf FlatSat Open version of the satellite Method GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System PDR Preliminary Design Review Measurement

Research Based on Existing Instruments Time-Line From To Planning Jan. 2013 Dec. 2014 GNSS Sensors developed and Construction Jan. 2014 Dec. 2017 tested by u-blox AG. Measurement Phase 2018 2019 TBC Data Evaluation 2018 TBC 2019 TBC Industrial Hardware Contract to

EPFL Space Engineering Center (eSpace)

CubETH mechanical model by student Sébastien Von Rohr. Structure concept by ELSE SA.

19 Swiss Space Missions

4.3 CleanSpace One

Purpose of Research Status

China’s demonstration of its capa- The project is now looking for funding bility to destroy an aging satellite and technical partners. in 2007, and the collision between the American operational satellite Iridium and the Russian Cosmos in Publications 2009 brought a new emphasis to the orbital debris problem. Although 1. Chamot, B., (2013), Technology Artist's impression of SwissCube capture by CleanSpace One most of the work had been concen- Combination Analysis Tool (TCAT) ©Jamani Caillet, EPFL. trated on avoidance prediction and for active debris removal, 6th debris monitoring, all major space European Conference on Space agencies are now claiming the need Debris, ESA/ESOC, , for active removal of debris (ADR). Germany. About 23,500 debris items above 10 cm have been catalogued. Roughly 2. Richard, M. et al., (2013), 2000 of these are remains of launch Uncooperative rendezvous and vehicles, 3000 belong to defunct sat- docking for MicroSats – The ellites and the rest are either mission- case for CleanSpace One, 6th Institute generated or fragmentation debris. International Conference on Recent Advances in Space Technologies EPFL Space Engineering Center The motivation behind the CleanSpace (RAST), Istanbul, Turkey. (eSpace), EPFL One project is to increase international awareness and start mitigating the 3. Richard, M., et al, (2013), In Cooperation with impact on the space environment by Uncooperative rendezvous and acting responsibly and removing our docking for MicroSats, The case for Haute école spécialisée de Suisse "debris" from orbit. The objectives of CleanSpace One, 6th International occidentale – HES-SO (HEPIA, the project are thus: Conference on Recent Advances in Valais, HE-ARC) Space Technologies, RAST 2013, 1) To increase awareness and respon- Istanbul, Turkey. Fachhochschule NTB sibility with regard to orbital debris and educate aerospace students. ELSE SA Abbreviations 2) To demonstrate technologies re- Principal Investigator lated to ADR which are scalable to ADR Active Debris Removal the removal of micro-satellites. M. Richard-Noca (EPFL) 3) To de-orbit a target, SwissCube or Swiss Principal Investigator any Swiss similar satellite that com- plies with the launch constraints. EPFL This project will contribute to the Co-Investigators Space Sustainability and Awareness with ADR actions. Current activities HES-SO, ELSE, NTB include development of the cap- ture system, Guidance-Navigation Method and Control, and systems related to the rendezvous sensors and image Measurement processing.

20 Swiss Space Missions

Time-Line From To Development and Planning Oct. 2016 July 2018 Construction of Instruments Construction Aug. 2018 July 2020 Measurement Phase Mar. 2020 Nov. 2020 Mission design, systems and sub- Data Evaluation Mar. 2020 Dec. 2021 systems design and validation, launch and flight operations

Industrial Hardware Contract to

EPFL Space Engineering Center (eSpace)

Testing the image processing algorithms developed by PhD student Christophe Paccolat in the HEPIA facilities. ©Alain Herzog, EPFL.

21 Astrophysics

5 Astrophysics

5.1 POLAR

Purpose of Research Status

POLAR is a compact gamma-ray po- In 2015, the Flight Spare instrument larimeter that will be launched at the finished all qualification tests both in end of 2016 on the Chinese space Europe and China. The Flight Model station Tiangong 2. instrument passed the acception test in Europe. It was then calibrated us- It is dedicated to the measurement ing the Grenoble ESRF accelerator POLAR Flight Spare during thermal balance tests in 2015, Shanghai. of the polarization of Gamma-Ray facility. The Flight Model (FM) was Bursts (GRB) in hard X-ray energies. subsequently sent to China to pass GRB belong to the most important the integration tests on Tiangong 2. subjects of contemporary astrophys- The FM officially passed all integration ics, and are linked with explosive tests in early 2016. births of black holes. GRB are of cosmological origin. The polarization Building of a European data cen- Institute of GRB is one of the most important ter is continuing in 2016. The flight parameters to understand the GRB analysis software and Monte Carlo ISDC, DPNC (UNIGE) phenomenon. This parameter has- developments are proceeding before not yet been measured with good the launch that should take place in PSI statistics and controlled systematics. September 2016.

In Cooperation with POLAR is a wide field-of-view Publications Compton polarimeter using light scin- IHEP, Beijing, China tillation material. It covers an energy 1. Produit, N. et al., (2005), Nucl. NCBJ, Warsaw, Poland range from a few tens up to several Instrum. Meth., A 550, 616. hundred keV. The polarization detec- Principal Investigator tion capability is 10 GRB per year 2. Suarez, E., (2010), Doctorate thesis, with a polarization precision on the University Geneva library. S. Nan Zhang (IHEP) polarization degree better than 10%. 3. Orsi, S. et al., (2011), Nucl. Instrum. Swiss Principal Investigator POLAR is meant to be taking data for Meth. A, 648. three years onboard of the Tiangong M. Pohl (ISDC) 2 Chinese space station. Using this dataset, POLAR should be able to Co-Investigator discriminate between currently pro- posed models of primary emission N. Produit (ISDC) of GRBs.

Method

Measurement

Research Based on Existing Instruments

POLAR was designed, constructed and qualified by a Swiss collaboration. The flight model and flight spare passed the Chinese acception program.

22 Astrophysics

Abbreviations

DPNC Département de Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire, Univ. Geneva ESRF European Synchotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble GRB Gamma-Ray Bursts IHEP High Energy Physics Institute, Beijing ISDC Data Centre for Astrophysics, Univ. Geneva NCBJ Nuclear Research Institute of Poland POLAR POLAR is a compact gamma-ray polarimeter PSI Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen

Time-Line From To Planning 2009 2011 Construction 2012 2014 Measurement Phase 2016 2019 Data Evaluation 2016 2021

Final integration of the POLAR Flight Model (FM) and Flight Model Spare (FMS), before shipping to China.

23 Astrophysics

5.2 IBEX – Interstellar Boundary Explorer

Purpose of Research Publications

The IBEX mission (NASA SMEX class) 1. Rodríguez Moreno, D. F., P. Wurz, is designed to record energetic neu- L. Saul, M. Bzowski, M. A. Kubiak, tral atoms arriving from the interface J. M. Sokół, P. Frisch, S. A. Fuselier, of our heliosphere with the neigh- D. J. McComas, E. Möbius, and bouring interstellar medium in an N. Schwadron, (2013), Evidence energy range from 10 eV to 6 keV. of direct detection of interstel- IBEX-Lo flight instrument in the MEFISTO calibration facility, Univ. Bern. This energy range is covered by two lar deuterium in the local inter- sensors, IBEX-Lo measuring from 10 stellar medium by IBEX, Astron. eV to 2 keV, and IBEX-Hi measuring Astrophys. 557, A125, 1 – 13. DOI: Institute from 500 eV to 6 keV. For each en- 10.1051/0004-6361/201321420. ergy channel a full-sky map is com- Space Research and Planetology, piled every half year, which allows the 2. Galli, A., P. Wurz, S. A. Fuselier, Physics Inst., Univ. Bern (UNIBE) plasma physical processes at the in- D. J. McComas, M. Bzowski, J. terface between the heliosphere and M. Sokół, M. A. Kubiak, and E. In Cooperation with the interstellar medium to be studied. Möbius, (2014), Imaging the he- liosphere using neutral atoms SwRI, Austin, USA from energy down to Lockheed Martin Advanced Tech. Status 15 eV, Astrophys. J., 796, 9, (18pp), Lab. Palo Alto, USA doi:10.1088/0004-637X/796/1/9. Space Research Centre PAS, IBEX was successfully launched in Warsaw, Poland October 2008 and brought into a 3. McComas, D. J., M. Bzowski, Univ. New Hampshire, Durham, USA highly elliptical orbit around the Earth. S. A. Fuselier, P. C. Frisch, A. In June 2011, the orbit was changed Galli, V. V. Izmodenov, O. A. Principal Investigator so that it was in resonance with the Katushkina, M. A. Kubiak, M. A. , which tremendously extends Lee, T. W. Leonard, E. Möbius, D. McComas (SwRI) the orbital life-time of the spacecraft N. A. Schwadron, J. M. Sokół, and thus allows the mission life to P. Swaczyna, B. E. Wood, and Swiss Principal Investigator cover more than a solar cycle of 11 P. Wurz, (2015), Local interstellar years with minimal fuel consump- medium: Six years of direct sam- P. Wurz (UNIBE) tion. IBEX continues to take nominal pling by the Interstellar Boundary measurements of ENAs originating Explorer, Astrophys. J. Suppl. Co-Investigator from the interface region between 220(2), article id. 22, 11 pp, DOI: our heliosphere and the surrounding 10.1088/0067-0049/220/2/22. A. Galli interstellar matter.

Method Abbreviations Measurement ENA Energetic Neutral Atom Development and Construction IBEX Interstellar Boundary Explorer of Instruments SMEX Small Explorer

IBEX-Lo Instrument on IBEX

Industrial Hardware Contract to Time-Line From To Measurement Phase on-going Sulzer Innotec Data Evaluation on-going

24 Astrophysics

5.3 HEAVENS – High-Energy Data Analysis Service

Purpose of Research astrophysics to the society at large and encourages the public to ac- High-energy astrophysics space tively explore the data. This is a fun- missions have pioneered and dem- damental step to transmit the values onstrated the power of legacy data of science and to evolve towards the sets to generate new discoveries, knowledge society. especially when analysed in ways the original researchers could not HEAVENS generates custom-made have anticipated. HEAVENS provides high-level science data products analysis services for a number of re- that are unique and not available cent and important high-energy mis- elsewhere, such as data from all Hard X-ray image collected by stacking 1.1 billion seconds of expo- sions. These services allow any user INTEGRAL instruments, RXTE, Swift sure time with Swift/BAT on a sample of active galactic nuclei. to perform on-the-fly data analysis BAT etc. This is the deepest hard X-ray image ever obtained. to straightforwardly produce scien- tific results for any sky position, time Status and energy intervals without requiring mission specific software or detailed HEAVENS includes data from several instrumental knowledge. The ultimate major ESA and NASA missions. It goal is to ensure that the data of the is regularly enhanced with new in- Institute present instruments can be effective- struments and capabilities, typically ly used by everyone and everywhere following important data analysis ad- ISDC Data Centre for Astrophysics, for decades to come. By providing a vances/campaigns performed at the Astronomical Observatory of the straightforward interface to complex ISDC for scientific research. In 2015, Univ. Geneva data and data analysis, HEAVENS HEAVENS served 800 requests from makes the data and the process of 100 different external users on aver- In Cooperation with generating science products available age, every month. Data generated by to the public and higher education. the HEAVENS service are also used CAMK, Poland HEAVENS promotes the visibility of for scientific research at the University GSFC, USA high-energy and multi-wavelengths of Geneva. FAU, Germany Univ. Leicester, England CEA, France

Principal Investigator

R. Walter (ISDC)

Method

Measurement

Development of Software for

The generation, provision and utili- sation of customized high level data analysis products.

Publications

X-ray image of the Tycho Remnant. http://www.isdc.unige.ch/heavens/

25 Astrophysics

5.4 DAMPE – DArk Matter Particle Explorer

Purpose of Research DAMPE will have unprecedented sensitivity and energy reach for The DAMPE (DArk Matter Particle electrons, photons and cosmic rays Explorer) satellite is one of the five se- (proton and heavy ions). For electrons lected space missions in the Strategic and photons, the detection range is Priority Research Program in Space 5 GeV – 10 TeV, with an energy reso- Science of the Chinese Academy lution of about 1 % at 800 GeV. For of Science, and was the first to be cosmic rays, the detection range A sketch of the DAMPE payload showing its sub-detector systems. launched (17th December 2015). The is 100 GeV – 100 TeV, with an en- main scientific objectives of DAMPE ergy resolution better than 40 % at are: 800 GeV. The geometrical factor is about 0.3 m² sr for electrons and pho- Institute • To measure electrons and photons tons, and about 0.2 m² sr for cosmic with much higher energy resolu- rays. DPNC, Univ. Geneva tion and energy reach than achiev- able with existing space experi- The STK, which greatly improves the In Cooperation with ments in order to identify possible tracking and photon detection capa- Dark Matter signatures. bility of DAMPE, was proposed by INFN, Perugia, Italy the Geneva-DPNC group. An inter- INFN, Bari, Italy • To advance the understanding of national collaboration led by DPNC, INFN, Lecce, Italy the origin and propagation mecha- including INFN Perugia, Bari, Lecce IHEP, Beijing, China nism of high energy cosmic rays and IHEP, Beijing, is responsible for PMO, Nanjing, China by measuring their spectra and the development, construction, quali- compositions. fication, on-ground calibration, and Principal Investigator in-orbit calibration and monitoring of • To extend the direct observation the STK. J. Chang (PMO, China) of high energy gamma sources.

Swiss Principal Investigator DAMPE consists of a plastic scintil- Status lator strip detector (two layers) that X. Wu (DPNC) serves as an anti-coincidence de- The development and the construc- tector, followed by a silicon-tungsten tion of the STK was completed after 3 Method tracker-converter (STK), which is years of intensive effort. Final assem- made of six tracking double layers. bly occurred at the DPNC after which Measurement Each consists of two layers of single- it was delivered to China in April 2015 sided silicon strip detectors measur- and integrated into the satellite in May Development and Construction ing the two orthogonal views perpen- 2015. The DAMPE satellite was suc- of Instruments dicular to the pointing direction of the cessfully launched from the Jiuquan apparatus. Three layers of tungsten Satellite Launch Center in northwest DPNC leads an international col- plates with a 1 mm thickness are China on 17 December 2015. laboration that has developed and inserted in front of tracking layer 2, constructed the Silicon-Tungsten 3 and 4 for photon conversion. The Three days after the launch, on 20 Tracker for DAMPE STK is followed by an imaging calo- December, the STK was powered on, rimeter of about 31 radiation lengths and four days later, the high voltage Industrial Hardware Contract to thickness, made up of 14 layers of of the calorimeter was also turned on. BGO bars in a hodoscopic arrange- All onboard instruments function very Composite Design SA, Crissier ment. Finally, a layer of neutron detec- well, and the 3 months in-orbit com- Hybrid SA, Chez-le-Bart tors is situated at the bottom of the missioning period has been com- Meca-Test SA, Geneva calorimeter. pleted. Initial assessments showed

26 Astrophysics

that all performance specifications More than 99.5% of the 73728 read- have been satisfied. The mission has out channels are functioning well. now entered the observation period, Monitoring and calibration of the STK initially planned for 3-years. Detailed is being done in Europe. First in-orbit calibration of the payload and data calibration and alignment have been processing and data analysis is in completed. High energy photons progress. have been reconstructed and known sources such as the Vela Pulsar have The STK is performing above ex- been observed. pectation. In-orbit mechanical and thermal conditions are very stable.

The production of a Silicon Tungsten Tracker plane at the DPNC, Univ. Geneva.

Abbreviations

BGO Bismuth Germanium Oxide DAMPE DArk Matter Particle Explorer DPNC Département de Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire, Univ. Geneva IHEP Inst. of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China INFN Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Italy PMO Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China STK Silicon-Tungsten Tracker

Time-Line From To Planning 2012 2013 Construction 2013 2015 Measurement Phase 2016 2018 Data Evaluation 2016 2020

27 Astrophysics

5.5 Gaia Variability Processing and Analysis

Purpose of Research • The Geneva Data Processing Centre (DPCG), which is respon- The exploration and detailed under- sible for operating the software standing of our Galaxy require all-sky developed by CU7. measurements with a multitude of in- struments. The Gaia ESA satellite was This activity directly builds upon the successfully launched in December expertise gathered through the im- 2013 to tackle many outstanding ques- portant participation of the University tions relating to (among other subjects) of Geneva in two other ESA missions: the dynamics and origin of our Galaxy, Hipparcos and INTEGRAL. The CU7/ Institute the evolution and variability of its stel- DPCG group is in charge of the analy- lar components, as well as the more sis of the variability of celestial ob- Department of Astronomy, home-based solar system bodies. jects, in particular, characterization Univ. Geneva (UNIGE) It does so by repeatedly measuring and classification of these objects more than a billion objects in our Galaxy into different variability types. In Cooperation with for a period of at least five years. Its instruments consist of a broad-band The CU7 Geneva team also contrib- 17 institutes in Europe, USA, Israel (white-light) CCD array, a blue and utes to the work of other Coordination (more than 70 people) low-dispersion spectrograph, and a Units: in the CU6 analysis of radial narrow-band spectrograph that can velocity variability and in the CU2 Principal Investigator measure radial velocities from the models of variable objects imple- Calcium-triplet absorption bands. mented in the Universe Model used ESA for simulations. The main goal is to Gaia’s unique capability to measure produce parts of the intermediate and Swiss Principal Investigator distances of sources on the other side final Gaia catalogs which will be re- of our Galaxy allows us to extract astro- leased by ESA (final release planned L. Eyer (UNIGE) physical information that up until now in 2021). would need to be inferred through in- Co-Investigators direct means, such as for example the The Geneva team is also pursuing absolute brightness of a star. All these an active research program on stel- N. Mowlavi results will be compiled in huge online lar variability which will benefit from B. Holl catalogs, and are expected to be a and contribute to the Gaia develop- J. Charnas goldmine for astrophysicists for the ment and create a synergy between L. Guy coming decades as no such mission software development and science. I. Lecoeur-Taibi will fly soon hereafter. Hence, great The group consists of 17 people, con- D. Ordonez care needs to be taken to process the tributing at different levels (scientists, L. Rimoldini raw observations into astrophysical software engineers, post-docs, PhD M. Süveges meaningfully statistics. To do so, the students, system administrators). K. Nienartowicz Gaia European community has orga- G. Jevardat de Fombelle nized itself into 9 Coordination Units The ESA Gaia project-related ac- & the Software company, SixSQ (CUs), dividing the task into different tivities in Geneva are supported by thematics. Following a formal ESA UNIGE: Funding is provided by the Method selection process in 2007, two entities Swiss Prodex Programme and the managed by the Geneva University Swiss Federal Activités Nationales Measurement were formed to support the variability Complémentaires (ANC). The prepara- processing and analysis of Gaia: tion of the scientific exploitation of Gaia Development of Software for data has been supported by FNRS, • Coordination Unit 7 (CU7), which is ESF (European Sci. Foundation) and The Gaia mission an international consortium. RTN-FP6/ ITN-FP7 EU grants.

28 Astrophysics

Status done with the Gaia data, and that the integration of the software pipelines The Gaia spacecraft has been gath- of all Coordination Units is working ering operational data since Summer under real-data conditions. 2014, and since then the processing chain has been put in motion. Due to Publications our work from the operation rehears- als, we are able to contribute to the 1. Holl, B. et al., (2014), Automated very first intermediate Gaia data re- eclipsing binary detection: Appl- lease planned for the end of Summer ying the Gaia CU7 pipeline to 2016, releasing stellar variability data Hipparcos, EAS, 67, 299. much earlier than originally planned. The figure shows an example of a typ- 2. Anderson, R. I. et al., (2015), In- ical RR Lyrae star observed by Gaia vestigating Cepheid l Carinae’s compared with the ground-based cycle-to-cycle variations via con- OGLE survey. It shows the already temporaneous velocimetry and excellent photometric precision of , MNRAS, 455, 4231. the first reduction of initial Gaia data, which will only improve as calibrations 3. Eyer, L. et al., (2015), The Gaia mis- improve. These initial results make us sion, binary stars and exoplanets, confident that great science can be ASPC, 496, 121.

Folded light curve of a (periodically pulsating) RR Lyrae star. Gaia data are on the left, and data from the ground based OGLE survey are on the right.

Abbreviations

CU Coordination Unit DPCG Data Processing Center of Geneva Gaia ESA Satellite OGLE Optical Grav. Lensing Exp.

Time-Line From To Planning 2006 2021 Construction Cyclic development 2021 Measurement Phase 2013 2019 Data Evaluation Cyclic 2021/2022

29 Astrophysics

5.6 LISA Pathfinder/LISA Technology Package

Purpose of Research direct observation of a broad variety of systems and events throughout the The LISA Technology Package (LTP) Universe, including the coalescences is the payload onboard the LISA of supermassive black holes brought Pathfinder Mission (LPF). LPF is a together by galaxy mergers, the in- technology mission in view of ESA's spiral of stellar-mass black holes and planned L3 mission eLISA (evolved compact stars into central galactic Laser Interferometer Space Antenna). black holes (so-called EMRI) and to gain unique information about the be- LPF/LTP will demonstrate the feasibil- haviour, structure and early history of Inertial Sensor Assembly with both test masses, ity of the eLISA required performance the Universe. eLISA will complement/ enclosed by the electrode housings. The optical including laser interferometry and enhance Earth-based interferometers bench is situated between both test masses. new methods of spacecraft control. such as LIGO and VIRGO and will It's key objective is to test the ideas open the gravitational wave window behind gravitational wave detec- in space and measure gravitational tors that free-falling particles follow radiation over a broad band of fre- geodesics in space-time. LPF/LTP quencies, from about 0.1 mHz to 1 places two test or proof masses (solid Hz, a band where the Universe is Institute cubes of gold-platinum alloy, edge richly populated by strong sources length ~4.6 cm, mass 2 kg) in a nearly of gravitational waves. Inst. Geophysics, ETH Zurich perfect gravitational free-fall, and (ETHZ) controls and measures their motion The LISA Pathfinder science opera- with unprecedented accuracy and tion is dedicated to the collection and Physics Institute, resolution. This is achieved through analysis of LISA Pathfinder data in or- Univ. Zurich (UNIZH) state-of-the-art space technology der to understand all spurious effects comprising inertial sensors, a laser that can affect purely gravitational In Cooperation with metrology system, a drag-free control motion of both test masses in space. system and an ultra-precise micro- The knowledge of all non-gravitational Univ. Trento, Italy propulsion system. forces acting on them will be essential to calibrate and optimize the future Principal Investigators The Swiss contribution to LTP con- fullscale gravitational observatory sists of the development of an Inertial eLISA. S. Vitale (Univ. Trento) Sensor Front-End Electronics (ISFEE), K. Danzmann, ( Inst.) which senses and controls the posi- Status tion and attitude of the test mass with Swiss Principal Investigator respect to its frame and the space- The involvement of the Institute of craft respectively, using ultra-stable Geophysics, ETH Zurich, and the D. Giardini (ETHZ) capacitive sensing and electrostatic Institute of Physics, University of actuation techniques. The measure- Zurich, goes back to the year 2003. Co-Investigators ment and actuation requires nano- A technical team from the Institute of meter resolution and stability in the Geophysics ETHZ established the re- P. Jetzer (UNIZH) low-frequency band from 1 Hz down quired specifications and the concept L. Ferraioli (ETHZ) to 0.1 mHz. The ISFEE is built fully of the ISFEE in collaboration with the D. Mance (ETHZ) redundant due to its criticality for the international partners, in particular with P. Zweifel (ETHZ) mission success. the University of Trento (LPF Principal Investigator) and Airbus Defence and Method The eLISA mission will be dedicated to Space, Friedrichshafen (Prime). It measure gravitational waves - for the prepared the necessary specification Measurement first time in space - and thus to enable documents for the industrial work. The

30 Astrophysics

industrial contract with RUAG Space Publications Development and and thus the development of ISFEE Construction of Instruments started in April 2005. Furthermore, the 1. Gan, L., D. Mance, P. Zweifel, ETHZ group supervised the develop- (2011), Actuation to sensing cross- Inertial Sensor Front-End Electronics ment process at RUAG together with talk investigation in the inertial sen- (ISFEE) for LISA Technology Package the ESA Prodex office. The ISFEE flight sor front-end electronics of the la- on LISA Pathfinder mission. hardware was delivered by RUAG to ser interferometer space antenna Airbus Friedrichshafen in December pathfinder satellite, Sens. Actuators Industrial Hardware Contract to 2010. A Physical, 167, 2, 574–580. RUAG Space, Zurich The LISA Pathfinder mission was even- 2. Armano, M. et al., (2015), A noise HES-SO, Sion tually launched on 3 December 2015 simulator for eLISA: Migrating by a launcher from Europe's LISA Pathfinder knowledge to space port in Kourou, French Guiana. the eLISA mission, J. Phys. Conf. After several progressively expanded Ser., 610, 1, 012036, 6 pp, DOI: Earth orbits using its own propulsion 10.1088/1742-6596/610/1/012036. module, the satellite was finally placed at point L1, 1.5 Mio km from 3. Gibert, F. et al., (2015), In-flight the Earth. thermal experiments for LISA Pathfinder: Simulating temperature The LPF satellite is controlled by the noise at the Inertial Sensors, J. Phys. European Space Operations Centre Conf. Ser. 610, 012023, 6 pp, DOI: (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. The 10.1088/1742-6596/610/1/012023. Science and Technology Operations Centre is located at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) at Abbreviations Villaneuva de la Cañada in Spain and was re-located to ESOC during LISA eLISA evolved Laser Interfero Pathfinder operations. -meter Space Antenna EMRI Extreme Mass Ratio The satellite and payload commission- Inspiral ing began in December 2015 and was HES-SO (Haute École Spécialisée successfully completed at the end of de Suisse Occidentale) February 2016. The science opera- ISFEE Inertial Sensor Front-End tion started on 1 March 2016 and will Electronics last about 6 months. The Institute of LPF LISA Pathfinder Geophysics ETHZ is directly involved LTP LISA Technology Package in the experiments as part of the LISA (LPF Payload) Pathfinder data analysis team as well as in the monitoring of the ISFEE hard- ware during the mission. The ISFEE, consisting of two fully redundant Sensing and Actuation Units (SAU) and the switching unit (SSU), was designed and built by RUAG Space AG in Zurich and HES-SO in Sion (Sensing and Time-Line From To actuation boards). The Power Control Unit was developed by ASP Planning 2003 2005 GmbH in Salem-Neufrach. The picture shows the flight hardware Construction 2005 2010 without cabling, the SAUs in the back and the SSU in front. The Measurement Phase 2016 2016 SSU connects the highly sensitive sensing and actuation channels Data Evaluation 2016 from the nominal or redundant SAU to the Inertial Sensor head.

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5.7 SPICA Infrared Observatory

Purpose of Research Status

The SPICA mission is a collaborative Although SPICA has passed several project between Europe and Japan. It reviews in Japan, SPICA has not yet will be proposed in the upcoming M5 undergone the JAXA phase-up re- ESA call. SPICA will carry SAFARI, an view that would formally transform infrared grating (R ~ 300, up to 3000 its status into an approved project. for bright sources) spectrometer op- In mid-2013, it became apparent erating from 34 to 210 µm, proposed that, due to the financial situation by a European Consortium led by in Japan, the SPICA mission could SRON (Netherlands) with Swiss not be launched without a stronger The SPICA satellite (Planck configuration, 2.5m@8K telescope). participation, and SMI, proposed by financial involvement by international Japan, that will provide imaging spec- partners. troscopy with R ~ 50 and full-band slit-fed spectroscopy at R ~ 1,000 JAXA/ISAS and ESA/SRON agreed Institute from 17 to 36 µm, and R ~ 28,000 upon a stronger involvement of the from 12 to 18 µm. European contribution to SPICA, in- Dept. Astronomy, cluding the SAFARI instrument and Univ. Geneva (UNIGE) The SPICA mission recently under- the European ground segment. In went a significant redesign, for ex- Autumn 2014, ESA further conducted In Cooperation with ample, in its telescope configuration a CDF study to determine the scope and its instrument's capabilities and of a cold infrared mission within the SRON, Netherlands configuration. The SPICA telescope ESA M scheme in collaboration with ISAS, japan will be cooled down to about 8K, ef- JAXA. and the SPICA Consortium fectively suppressing most of the sat- ellite's infrared thermal background, Consequently, the SPICA consortium Principal Investigator which will allow us to reach down to will propose the SPICA mission in the very low fluxes. upcoming M5 call. If nominated, the P. Roelfsema (SRON) final mission selection will take place The main science topics addressed in 2018 – 2019, with a foreseen launch Swiss Principal Investigator by SPICA are: 1) Understanding the in the late 2020s. physical processes that regulate gal- M. Audard (UNIGE) axy evolution, 2) tracing the gas, dust During the reporting period, the main and ice evolution in planetary sys- effort of the SPICA Consortium was Co-Investigators tems, and 3) the dynamic ISM: The on the redesign of the SPICA mission fuel and exhaust of galaxies. in the new ESA/JAXA framework, and M. R. Meyer (ETHZ) on preparing the upcoming M5 call. D. Schaerer (UNIGE) Apart from its science interests in Switzerland actively participates in S. Paltani (UNIGE) SPICA, the University of Geneva the writing of the science part of the aims to lead the development and proposal. Method operations of the SAFARI Instrument Control Center, in collaboration with Measurement members of the SAFARI Consortium. The ICC will be responsible for the Development of Software for calibration, software development, and routine operations tasks of the Instrument Control Center for the instrument. It will work in coopera- SAFARI instrument onboard the tion with the ESA and JAXA ground SPICA mission. segments.

32 Astrophysics

Publications Abbreviations

1. Goicochea, J. R. et al., (2013), ICC Instrument Control Center The far-IR view of star and planet ISAS Institute of Space and forming regions, Proc. of the Astronautical Science SPICA’s New Window on the JAXA Japanese Space Agency 'Cool Universe' conference, arXiv: SAFARI SpicA FAR-infrared 1310.1683. Instrument SMI SPICA Mid-Infrared 2. Nakagawa, T. et al., (2014), The Instrument next-generation infrared astrono- SPICA Space Infrared Telescope my mission SPICA under the new for Cosmology and framework, Proc. SPIE, 9143, art. Astrophysics id 91431I, 9pp. SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research 3. Roelfsema, P. et al., (2014), SAFARI new and improved: extending the capabilities of SPICA's imaging spectrometer, Proc. SPIE, 9143, art. id 91431K, 11pp.

SPICA SMI and SAFARI expected line sensitivities compared to other infrared and mm instruments. Status: end of 2015.

Time-Line From To Planning 2017 2020 Construction 2020 2030 Measurement Phase 2030 2035 Data Evaluation 2030 2040

33 Astrophysics

5.8 Swiss Contribution to Euclid

Purpose of Research shear (weak lensing), as well as the detection of strong gravitational Euclid is a mission of the European lenses. FHNW contributes to the so- Space Agency designed to under- called system team, which provides stand the origin and evolution of the the overall infrastructure binding the Universe by investigating the nature different components of the Euclid of its most mysterious components: data centers. dark energy and dark matter, and by testing the nature of gravity. Euclid will UNIGE is in charge of the coordina- RSU Structural and Thermal Model being assembled achieve its scientific goal by combin- tion of the development of algorithms at APCO Technologies. Copyright APCO/UNIGE. ing a number of cosmological probes, and software for the determination of among which the primary ones are photometric . UNIGE also weak gravitational lensing and bary- hosts the Swiss Euclid Science Data onic acoustic oscillations. Center and is in charge of the deter- mination of the photometric redshifts The Euclid payload consists of a and the detection of strong lenses. 1.2 m Korsch telescope designed The Euclid data processing is a large to provide a large field of view. The distributed effort, which will have to Euclid survey will cover 15,000 deg2 operate a multi-petabyte archive and of the extragalactic sky with its two a commensurate processing power. instruments: the VISual imager (VIS) UNIGE also develops the Read-out and the Near-Infrared Spectrometer Shutter Unit (RSU), a cryogenics Photometer instrument (NISP), which shutter for the VIS instrument. Institute includes a slitless spectrometer and a three-band photometer. Euclid is All participating institutes will partake École Polytechnique Fédérale de the second Medium Class mission of in the science of Euclid, whether for Lausanne (EPFL) the ESA 2015 – 2025 the main science goals or for the very programme, with a foreseen launch rich secondary science that will result Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz date in 2020. from the huge Euclid survey. (FHNW) Switzerland is playing an important Univ. Geneva role in Euclid, with participation at all (UNIGE) levels, from the science definition, to the building of space hardware, the Univ. Zurich development of analysis algorithms, (UNIZH) the participation in the data process- ing and the science exploitation. In Cooperation with Several Swiss institutes are strongly ESA involved in Euclid: the EPFL, the about 100 European institutes FHNW, UNIGE and UNIZH. On the NASA science level, the EPFL (strong lens- more than 1000 astronomers and ing), UNIGE (theory) and UNIZH engineers worldwide (cosmological simulations) are co- coordinating the respective Science Principal Investigator Working Groups. On the software and algorithms level, the EPFL is ac- Y. Mellier tive in the development of algorithms (Inst. d’Astrophysique de Paris) for the measurement of the galaxy

34 Astrophysics

Status Publications Co-Investigators

On the hardware side, Euclid passed 1. Laureijs, R. et al., (2011), Euclid Swiss consortium members with the Preliminary Design (Phase B) in Definition Study Report, Euclid lead responsibilities only: Spring 2014. Phase C (Critical Design) Red Book, ESA/SRE(2011)12, will be concluded in Spring 2016. eprint arXiv: 1110.3193. F. Courbin (EPFL) The launch is currently scheduled P. Dubath (UNIGE) for the fourth quarter of 2020. The 2. Cropper, M. et al., (2014), VIS: the J.-P. Kneib (EPFL) RSU Electrical Model was delivered visible imager for Euclid, Proc. M. Kunz (UNIGE) at the end of 2015 and the Structural SPIE, 9143, Article ID. 91430J. G. Meylan (EPFL) and Thermal Model is currently being S. Paltani (UNIGE) built by APCO Technologies. R. Teyssier (UNIZH

On the ground-segment side, Euclid Method passed the System Requirement Review in Summer 2015. The ground- Measurement segment development is structured with IT Challenges and Scientific Developments Challenges. The Swiss Science Data Center has participated in several Development and construction of the IT Challenges, and is now prepar- Read-Out Shutter Unit (RSU) of the ing IT Challenge 6. The Scientific VIS instrument. Challenges are incremental and in- clude more and more functions. The Development of algorithms for pho- Scientific Challenge 5 will include the tometric redshifts, weak and strong production of photometric redshifts. lensing. Several algorithms are currently be- ing assessed as part of two "Data Development of the Swiss Euclid Challenges" organized under the lead Science Data Center. of UNIGE. Industrial Hardware Contract to

APCO Technologies Abbreviations (VIS RSU Phase C/D)

Euclid ESA mission NISP Near-Infrared Spectrometer Photometer instrument RSU Read-out Shutter Unit VIS VISible imager

Time-Line From To Planning 2012 Construction 2012 2017(HW)/2019(SW) Measurement Phase 2020 2027 Data Evaluation 2020 2030

35 Astrophysics

5.9 Swiss Contribution to ASTRO-H/Hitomi

Purpose of Research Micro-Cameras & and assembled and qualified by ASTRO-H is a mission of the Japan UNIGE. The FWM was built and quali- Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) fied by Ruag Space. The Flight Models that was successfully launched on 17 were successfully delivered to SRON February 2016, and later renamed and then to JAXA in Autumn 2013. Hitomi. It is part of a very successful Both subsystems operated nominally Japanese scientific program dedicat- after launch. ed to high-energy astrophysics, the latest mission being (launched UNIGE also started the development Artist's impression of ASTRO-H ©JAXA. in 2005), which is still in operation. of the European Science Support Hitomi was an essential mission for Center (ESSC), which was part of high-energy astrophysics, between the European user support activi- Institute the current generation with XMM- ties for Hitomi. The ESSC aimed to Newton, INTEGRAL, Chandra and provide direct support to European Dept. Astronomy Suzaku, and the future Large Mission astronomers interested in submitting Univ. Geneva (UNIGE) of ESA's Cosmic Vision program, dedi- Hitomi proposals and in reducing and cated to the study of the hot and en- analyzing Hitomi data. In collabora- In Cooperation with ergetic Universe. UNIGE participated tion with ESA, it ran a user helpdesk in the Hitomi mission together with interface. The ESSC staff also con- Japan Aerospace Exploration the Dutch space agency (SRON), by tributed to the in-flight calibration of Agency (JAXA) developing a filter wheel for the Soft the Hitomi instruments. Netherlands Institute for Space X-ray Spectrometer (SXS). The SXS is Research (SRON) a cryogenics silicon detector working Status European Space Agency (ESA) at 50 mK, aiming to provide excellent energy resolution (better than 5 eV) in Unfortunately, Hitomi experienced a Principal Investigator the 0.3 – 10 keV energy range, while failure on 26 March 2016, resulting in preserving some imaging capabilities a complete loss of the mission, and T. Takahashi (JAXA) and high throughput. The filter wheel in the termination of all Hitomi-related is used to select different optical ele- activities. Swiss Principal Investigator ments, either to reduce the X-ray count rate or optical load on the detector, as Publications S. Paltani (UNIGE) well as to protect the detector from micro-meteorites. It also supports and 1. Takahashi, T. et al., (2014), The Method commands active calibration sources, ASTRO-H X-ray observatory, Proc. which are provided by SRON, and as- SPIE, 9144, 25. Measurement sembled on top of the filter wheel. Abbreviations Developments The filter wheel consists of two sepa- rate units: the Filter Wheel Electronics ESSC European Sci. Support Center Development and construction of the (FWE) and the Filter Wheel Mechanism FWE Filter Wheel Electronics Filter Wheel Mechanism and Filter (FWM). The control and power elec- FWM Filter Wheel Mechanism Wheel Electronics. Development of tronics module FWE was designed by SXS Soft X-ray Spectrometer user-support activities. Time-Line From To Industrial Hardware Contract to Planning 2010 Construction 2010 2014 Ruag Space AG (FWM) Measurement Phase 2016 2016 Micro-Cameras & Space Explor. (FWE) Data Evaluation 2016 2016

36 Astrophysics

5.10 ATHENA – Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics

Purpose of Research wheel heavily relies on heritage from the Swiss contribution to ASTRO-H. ESA has recently selected 'The Hot UNIGE envisages a significant par- and Energetic Universe' as the science ticipation in the ATHENA ground-seg- theme of the second Large Mission ment, both in the development phase of the Cosmic Vision programme. and during scientific operations. The ATHENA is an evolution of former model under discussion involves two proposals: XEUS, International X-ray separate Instrument Science Centers Observatory and ATHENA L1, which is (ISC) attached to each of both instru- now in an excellent position to become ments. UNIGE is well-positioned to Artist's impression of ATHENA ©ESA. Europe's next major X-ray astronomy play a significant role in the X-IFU mission, after ESA's cornerstone mis- ISC, and is in discussion with the WFI sion XMM-Newton. ATHENA will pro- proto-consortium. Institute vide tremendous improvements over the current generation for high spa- Status Dept. Astronomy tial and spectral resolution spectro- Univ. Geneva (UNIGE) imaging. ATHENA will carry a large- The ATHENA proto-consortium is field-of-view fast imager, the Wide currently working toward the prepara- In Cooperation with FIeld Imager (WFI), and a cryogenic tion of the Instrument Announcement imaging calorimeter, the X-ray Integral of Opportunity, in Summer 2016. Max-Planck-Institut für Field Unit (X-IFU). The X-IFU will allow Adoption is foreseen in February 2020. Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE) imaging at electron-volt resolution, i.e. Garching, Germany an improvement by a factor about 50 Publications over current imaging instruments. It Institut de Recherche en has to operate at cryogenic (50 mK) 1. Nandra, K. et al., (2013), The Hot Astrophysique et Planétologie temperatures. This will be achieved and Energetic Universe: A White (IRAP), Toulouse, France by a complex, multi-stage mechanical Paper presenting the science cooling chain. Switzerland is actively theme motivating the Athena+ European Space Agency (ESA) participating in the development of the mission, arXiv: 1306.2307. X-IFU for ATHENA. It is responsible for Principal Investigator the development of the Filter Wheel 2. Meidlinger, N. et al., (2014), The subsystem. The filter wheel will allow wide field instrument imager for K. Nandra (MPE) the insertion of different optical and Athena, Proc. SPIE, 144, 91442J. X-ray attenuating blocking filters to re- D. Barret (IRAP) duce optical light from bright objects 3. Ravera, L. et al., (2014), The X-ray (O and B stars) and to reduce the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) for Swiss Principal Investigator count rate for very bright objects in Athena, Proc. SPIE, 9144, 91442L. order to prevent degradation in de- S. Paltani (UNIGE) tector performance. The filter wheel Abbreviations will also drive active X-ray sources, Method which can generate mono-energet- ISC Instrument Science Center ic photons in order to perform gain WFI WIde Field Imager Measurement calibrations of the detector. The filter X-IFU X-ray Integral Field Unit Developments Time-Line From To Planning 2015 2020 Development and construction of the Construction 2020 2026 Filter Wheel subsystem of the X-IFU instr. Measurement Phase 2028 2038 Data Evaluation 2028 2048 Development of data center activities.

37 Astrophysics

5.11 XIPE – The X-Ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer

Purpose of Research The combination of the selected op- tics and detectors achieve an effec- XIPE, the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry tive area of 1100 cm2 at 2 keV (the Explorer, is a newly proposed space total operating energy range is 2 – 8 mission concept competing with two keV), translating into a minimum de- other candidates for a launch oppor- tectable polarization lower than 10% tunity in 2026 within the context of in 100 ks of observations for a source the ESA M4 call. The mission has with the intensity of 1 mCrab. been selected in 2015 for an assess- ment phase study that will last until It has been argued from theoretical July 2017, when a down-selection considerations that X-ray radiation among the three M4 candidates is from many astrophysical sources Artist's impression of XIPE ©INAF-IAPS. expected and only one will proceed must be significantly polarized be- to the implementation phase. cause it often originates in highly aspherical emission and scattering XIPE will be entirely dedicated to geometries or from regions with measurements of X-ray polarization structured magnetic fields. The wider from celestial Galactic and extra- set of observables provided by XIPE, Galactic X-ray sources. Polarimetric compared to any previously flown Institute X-ray measurements are long known X-ray instruments, will thus help in to be the key to probe in-situ the de- breaking degeneracies in the X-ray ISDC, tails, and geometry of many poorly modeling of a wide range of astro- Univ. Geneva (UNIGE) understood emission mechanisms, physical objects. but have so far remained an unde- In Cooperation with veloped tool due to the lack of tech- The induced observable polarization nology required to build a sufficiently can solve long-standing problems INAF-IAPS, Italy sensitive instrument. XIPE will finally in both astrophysics and fundamen- cover this gap and provide the pos- tal physics: What is the structure of Principal Investigator sibility to perform spatially-resolved magnetic fields close to the site of polarimetric measurements of a large particle acceleration in pulsar wind P. S of fi t t a sample of Galactic and extragalactic nebulae, supernovae or extragalactic X- ray sources. jets? Where do the seed photons for Swiss Principal Investigator the Comptonized emission in extra- XIPE is equipped with three focus- galactic jets come from? What is T. J.-L. Courvoisier (UNIGE) ing Wolter I X-ray telescopes and the nature of the reprocessed emis- the latest generation of the Gas Pixel sion we observe from the molecular Co-Investigators Detectors (GPDs) developed by INFN- clouds in the Galactic Center? What Pisa in collaboration with INAF-IAPS. is the accretion geometry in accreting E. Bozzo These innovative detectors permit not X-ray pulsars? Can the theoretically S. Paltani (UNIGE) only the spectral, spatial and timing predicted QED vacuum birefringence information of the X-ray intensity from in the atmospheres of magnetars be Method celestial sources to be recorded, but confirmed? What is the angular mo- also permit recording of the two ad- mentum of accreting black holes in Measurement ditional Stokes parameters, Q and X-ray binaries? Is the theory of Loop U, thus measuring the polarization correct? Can we Development and of the X-ray emission as a function detect axion-like particles that would Construction of Instruments of position, photon energy and time. constitute dark matter?

XIPE Space Mission

38 Astrophysics

The Swiss XIPE team, based at the Publications ISDC (Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva), is currently in 1. Costa, E. et al., (2001), Nature, charge of the overall project manage- 411, 662. ment and definition of the mission sci- ence ground segment (in collabora- 2. Soffitta, P. et al., (2012), Proc. SPIE, tion with ESA). A number of scientists 8443, 84431F. from different Swiss institutions are directly involved in the XIPE science 3. Soffitta, P. et al., (2013), NIMPA, working groups. 700, 99.

Status Abbreviations

During the on-going assessment CDF Concurrent Design Facility phase, XIPE succesfully completed GPD Gas Pixel Detector the Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) XIPE X-ray Imaging Polarimetry study performed by ESA. The mission Explorer technology has been declared solid and very mature, thus providing XIPE a likely chance to be able to launch even ahead of the current foreseen time slot for the M4 missions.

The first scientific international confer- ence dedicated to the XIPE mission will take place in May 2016 in Valencia (Spain), and it is expected to lead to a major consolidation of all core and observatory XIPE science goals. The assessment phase of XIPE and the other M4 mission candidates will end in July 2017, when a single mission will then be selected for the imple- mentation phase and launch in the 2026 time-frame.

Time-Line From To Planning Sep. 2015 Jul. 2017 Construction Oct. 2017 Jun. 2026 Measurement Phase Jan. 2027 Jan. 2030 Data Evaluation open open

39 Solar Physics

6 Solar Physics

6.1 The VIRGO Investigation on SoHO, an ESA/NASA Cooperative Mission

Purpose of Research Status

The Variability of Solar Irradiance and The Solar and Heliospheric Gravity Oscillations (VIRGO) experi- Observatory (SoHO) was launched in ment provides continuous high preci- December 1995, and the VIRGO ex- sion measurements of the total and periment started observations in early spectral solar irradiance (TSI and SSI). 1996. VIRGO is still operational and Two different types of absolute cavity keeps extending the longest avail- radiometers measure TSI: A PMO6V able space-based TSI time-series. every min. and a DIARAD every 3 The 20th anniversary of SoHO was mins. The SSI is sampled every min- recently celebrated, and it continues VIRGO on the SoHO spacecraft. Copyright: ESA. ute in three narrow wavelength bands to be operational. centred at 402, 500, and 862 nm. Data are used for research in several areas: Publications

• Evaluation of the direct and indirect 1. Fröhlich, C., (2013), Total solar ir- solar influence on terrestrial climate. radiance: What have we learned from the last three cycles and the • Helioseismology: investigation of recent minimum, Space Science solar acoustic modes and their Reviews, 176, 237 – 252. variation with solar activity, and Institute the search for solar gravity modes, 2. Wehrli, C., et al., (2013), Correlation which is still an open issue. of spectral solar irradiance with so- Physikalisch-Meteorologisches lar activity as measured by VIRGO, Observatorium Davos • Investigation of short and long- A&A, 556, L3. und Weltstrahlungszentrum term variations of solar irradiance. (PMOD/WRC), Davos, Switzerland: 3. Fröhlich, C., (2016), Determination PI: C. Fröhlich, CoI: W. Finsterle, W. • Solar radiometry for TSI and SSI, of time-dependent uncertainty of Schmutz, C. Wehrli and its long-term behaviour in the TSI records from 1978 to pres- space. ent, J. Sp. Weath. Sp. Clim., 6, A18. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Tenerife, Spain: Virgo Data Center A recent meeting of several mem- CoI: A. Jimenes bers of the original VIRGO team took place, celebrating the 20th Institut Royal Météorologique anniversary of SoHO. Left to right: de Belgique (IRMB), Bruxelles, Christoph Wehrli, Antonio Jiménez, Belgium: Torben Leifsen, Bo Andersen, Claus CoI: S. Dewitte Fröhlich, Hansjörg Roth, Vicente Domingo, Berhard Fleck, Thierry Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale Appourchaux (photographer), Steven (IAS), Orsay, France: Dewitte, and André Chevallier (not in CoI: T. Appourchaux picture). © Argilas 2016.

Research Based on Existing Instruments Abbreviations

Instruments of the VIRGO experi- SoHO: Solar and Heliospheric Observatory SSI: Spectral Solar Irradiance ment on SoHO. TSI: Total Solar Irradiance VIRGO: Variability of Solar Irradiance and Gravity Oscillations

40 Solar Physics

6.2 Probing Solar X-Ray Nanoflares with NuSTAR

Purpose of Research Status

The Nuclear Spectroscopic NuSTAR was successfully launched Telescope Array (NuSTAR) is a in June 2012. First solar observations NASA Small Explorer satellite using were performed in September 2014, true focusing optics and pixellated with 7 different observation runs for X-ray detectors to achieve unprec- a total of about 1 day of exposure edented sensitivity in the medium- time. Future solar obserations are to-hard X-ray band (2 – 80 keV). While beinging considered as a Target of NuSTAR is an astrophysics mission, Opportunity. Best observation con- it can point at the . ditions for our main science goal Institute (nanoflare heating) will occur around NuSTAR is 200 times more sensi- solar minimum (~2017 – 2021) at i4Ds tive than the Reuven Ramaty High times of lowest solar activity to mini- Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager mize contamination from unfocused Fachhochschule (RHESSI), the current state-of-the- X-rays ('ghost-rays') from outside of Nordwestschweiz art satellite for solar hard X-ray stud- NuSTAR's field-of-view. (FHNW) ies. With the extraordinary increase in sensitivity provided by NuSTAR, Publications In Cooperation with we will be able to test the so-called ‘nanoflare heating’ theory predict- 1. Fiona, A. et al., (2013), ApJ., 770, Caltech, USA ing that many tiny explosions seen 103. UC Santa Cruz, USA in X-rays provide enough energy to Univ. Glasgow, UK keep the solar atmosphere at its ex- 2. Hannah, I. G. et al., (2016), ApJ. Univ. Minnesota, USA traordinarily hot temperature (million Letters, 820, 1, article id. L14, 7. degree range). Principal Investigator

Abbreviations F. Harrison (Caltech)

NuSTAR Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array Swiss Principal Investigator RHESSI Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager S. Krucker (FHNW)

Co-Investigator

M. Kuhar (FHNW)

Method

Measurement

Research Based on Existing Instruments

NuSTAR is currently the leading X-ray First NuSTAR image of the Sun (NASA press release). The NuSTAR image illustrates bluish col- observatory launched in June 2012. ors superposed on an extreme UV image (around 171 Å) taken by SDO/AIA shown in red. While NuSTAR's unprecedented sensitivity the EUV image represents ‘cold’ coronal plasma around 1 MK, the NuSTAR image outlines the opens up entirely new views on astro- location of the hottest plasma (typically 4 – 5 MK during non-flaring times). physical X-ray objects including our Sun.

41 Solar Physics

6.3 SPICE – Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment Instrument on Solar Orbiter

Purpose of Research Status

The Spectral Imaging of the Coronal The SPICE engineering model was Environment Instrument (SPICE) on delivered to Airbus Defence and the Solar Orbiter mission is a high Space (ADS) in November 2015. The resolution imaging spectrometer op- Flight Model (FM) of the Low Voltage erating at extreme ultraviolet (EUV) Power Supply (LVPS), built at PMOD/ wavelengths, 70.4 – 79.0 nm and 97.3 WRC, was delivered to the Southwest – 104.9 nm. It is a facility instrument Research Institue (SwRI). The deliv- on the ESA Solar Orbiter mission. ery of the SPICE FM is planned for November 2016. The launch of Solar The SPICE Low Voltage Power Supply (LVPS). SPICE will significantly contribute to Orbiter is scheduled for October the key science question of Solar 2018. Orbiter: How does the Sun create and control the heliosphere? The Assembly Validation Model (AVM) of the SPICE Slit Change Mechanism For this purpose, SPICE is designed (SCM) was fully assembled by Institute to study the structure, dynamics and Almatech in 2015. In early 2016, the composition of the , in particu- QM of the SCM was assembled and Physikalisch-Meteorologisches lar investigating the source regions QM tests are ongoing. Observatorium Davos of outflows and ejection processes und Weltstrahlungszentrum, which link the solar surface and co- The QM and FM SPICE Contamination PMOD/WRC, Davos rona to the heliosphere, by observing Door (SCD) was successfully assem- key emission lines on the solar disc on bled by APCO, and the lifetime test In Cooperation with timescales from seconds to several is ongoing. All other tests have been minutes. successfully finished. RAL, UK GSFC, USA The EUV wavelength region observed Publications IAS, France by SPICE is dominated by emission ITA, Norway lines from a wide range of ions formed 1. Fludra, A. et al., (2013), SPICE EUV MPS, Germany in the solar atmosphere at tempera- spectrometer for the Solar Orbiter SwRI, USA tures from 10000 to 10 Million Kelvin. mission, Proc. SPIE, 8862, 88620F, ESA, Europe SPICE will measure plasma densi- doi 10.1117/12.2027581. NASA, USA ties and temperatures, flow velocities, the presence of plasma turbulence 2. Guerreiro, N., M. Haberreiter, V: Principal Investigators and the composition of the source Hansteen, W. Schmutz, (2015), region plasma. It will be observing, at Small-scale heating events in the A. Fludra (RAL) all latitudes, the energetics, dynamics solar atmosphere. I. Identification, D. Hassler (IAS) and fine-scale structure of the Sun’s selection, and implications for cor- magnetized atmosphere. onal heating, Astrophys. J., 813, 1, Swiss Principal Investigator article id. 61, 11 pp. A key aspect of the SPICE observ- W. Schmutz (PMOD/WRC) ing capability is to quantify the spa- 3. Rogers, K. et al., (2015), Optical tial and temporal signatures of the alignment of the SPICE EUV imag- Co-Investigators coronal temperature and density to ing spectrometer, Proc. SPIE, 9626, explain the inter-relationship between id. 962621, doi 10.1117/12.2191050. F. Auchere, T. Appourchaux, the chromosphere, the low corona, E. Buchlin, S. Parenti, J.-C. Vial coronal structures, coronal mass (IAS, France) ejections, and the solar wind.

42 Solar Physics

Abbreviations M. Carlsson, S. V. Haugan (ITA, Norway) ADS AVM Assembly Validation Model U. Schuhle, S. Solanki, EUV Extreme Ultraviolet W. Curdt, E. Marsch, FM Flight Model H. Peter, L. Teriaca, LVPS Low Voltage Power Supply D. Innes PMOD Physikalisch Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos (MPS, Germany) QM Qualification Model RAL Rutherford Appleton Laboratory R. Wimmer-Schweingruber SCD SPICE Contamination Door (Univ. Kiel, Germany) SCM SPICE Change Mechanism SPICE Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment Instrument M. Haberreiter SwRI Southwest Research Institute (PMOD/WRC, Switzerland)

M. Cladwell, R. Harrison, N. Waltham, (RAL, UK)

W. Thompson, J. Davila (GSFC, USA)

C. de Forest (SWRI, USA)

Method

Measurement

Development and Construction of Instruments

SPICE is a payload on the ESA/NASA FM of the LVPS for the SPICE instrument, built at PMOD/WRC by Daniel Pfiffner (left) and Pierre- M-class mission Solar Orbiter. The Luc Lévesque (right), was delivered to RAL for inspection and afterwards to SwRI for integration hardware, electronics and software into the SPICE FM electronics box. have been developed and manufac- tured by institutes and industry part- ners located in the USA and Europe. PMOD/WRC is responsible for the Time-Line From To development and manufacturing of Planning 2008 2010 the SPICE contamination door (SCD), Construction 2010 2017 the slit change mechanism (SCM) and Measurement Phase 2029 2029 the low voltage power supply (LVPS) Data Evaluation 2020 2030 and beyond for SPICE.

Industrial Hardware Contract to

APCO Technologies and

Almatech, Switzerland

43 Solar Physics

6.4 EUI – Extreme Ultraviolet Imager on Solar Orbiter

Purpose of Research EUI will significantly contribute to the following Solar Orbiter scientific EUI is designed to investigate struc- themes: tures in the solar atmosphere from the chromosphere to the corona, • What are the origins of the solar therefore providing a very important wind streams and the heliospheric link between the solar surface and the magnetic field? outer most layers of the solar atmo- sphere that ultimately influences the • What are the sources, accelera- EUI Qualification Model. characteristics of the interplanetary tion mechanism, and transport medium. processes of solar energetic particles? Institute EUI has a suite composed of a Full Sun Imager (FSI) and two High • How do coronal mass ejections Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Resolution Imagers (HRI). HRI and FSI evolve in the inner heliosphere? Observatorium Davos have spatial resolutions of 1 and 9 arc und Weltstrahlungszentrum, seconds, respectively. The HRI ca- • Explore, at all latitudes, the ener- PMOD/WRC, Davos dence depends on the target and can getics, dynamics and fine-scale reach sub-second values to observe structure of the Sun's magnetized In Cooperation with the fast dynamics of small-scale fea- atmosphere. tures. The FSI cadence will be ~10 Centre Spatiale de Liège minutes in each passband, but can (CSL), Belgium also achieve low cadences of ~10 s. Status

Royal Observatory of Belgium The FSI works alternately in two The qualification model has been (ROB), Belgium passbands, 174 Å and 304 Å, while manufactured and qualification tests the two HRI passbands observe in are running. Vibration tests were suc- Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale the hydrogen Lyman alpha (1216 Å) cessful, and shock tests are now (IAS), France and the extreme UV (174 Å). During ongoing. The FM is currently being the mission phase the spacecraft will manufactured while the launch of Institut d’Optique (IO), France have the closest perihelion at 0.28 Solar Orbiter has been re-scheduled UA, while the Aphelion will range from for October 2018. UCL Mullard Space Science 0.78 to 1.13 AU. Laboratory (MSSL), UK Furthermore, about 3 years after the Max Planck Institute for Solar launch, the spacecraft will initiate an System Research (MPS), Germany out-of-ecliptic phase where the incli- nation will increase in relation to the ESA solar equatorial plane by up to 33°.

NASA Abbreviations Principal Investigator AU Astronomical Unit P. Rochus (CSL) EUI Extreme Ultraviolet Imager FSI Full Sun Imager Swiss Principal Investigator HRI High Resolution Imagers

W. Schmutz (PMOD/WRC)

44 Solar Physics

Publications Small-scale heating events in the Co-Investigators solar atmosphere - I: Identification, 1. Halain, J.-P. et al., (2014), The ex- Selection and implications for coro- D. Berghmans, A. Zhukov, treme UV imager of solar orbiter: nal heating, Ap. J., 813, 61. S. Parenti, L. Rodriguez From detailed design to flight mod- (ROB) el, Proc. SPIE, 9144, id. 914408 4. Halain, J.-P. et al., (2015), The ex- 19 pp. treme UV imager telescope on- T. Appourchaux, F. Auchère, board the Solar Orbiter mission: J.-C. Vial, K. Bocchialini, 2. Rossi, L. et al., (2014), Solar simula- Overview of phase C and D, Proc. E. Quémerais, E. Buchlin tion test up to 13 solar constants SPIE, 9604, id. 96040G 11 pp. (IAS) for the thermal balance of the Solar Orbiter EUI instrument, Proc. SPIE, 5. Halain, J.-P., (2015), The extreme F. Delmotte 9144, id. 91443H 18 pp. ultraviolet imager of solar orbiter: (IO) Optical design and alignment 3. Guerreiro, N., M. Haberreiter, V. scheme, Proc. SPIE, 9604, id. L. Harra, S. Matthews, D. Williams, Hansteen, and W. Schmutz, (2015), 96040H 11 pp. L. Green, L. van Dreiel-Gesztelyi (MSSL)

U. Schuhle, J. Buchner, W. Curdt, E. Marsch, L. Teriaca, S. Solanki (MPS)

W. Finsterle, M. Haberreiter, N. Guerreiro (PMOD/WRC)

Method

Measurement

Development and Construction of Instruments

EUI is a payload on the ESA/NASA M-class Solar Orbiter mission. The hardware, electronics and software is being manufactured by different European institutes and industry partners. The instrument consortium lead is held by CSI, Belgium. PMOD/ WRC together with Swiss industry is EUI Qualification Model integration of sub-systems. responsible for the EUI optical bench structure. This is built with an alu- minium honeycomb, carbon fiber face Time-Line From To sheets and sandwich panels. Planning 2008 2010 Construction 2011 2017 Industrial Hardware Contract to Measurement Phase 2020 2029 Data Evaluation 2020 2030 and beyond APCO Technologies

45 Solar Physics

6.5 CLARA – Compact Lightweight Absolute Radiometer on NORSAT-1

Purpose of Research and a relative stability of 5 mW.m-2. yr -1 (0.0004% of the TSI per year). Space Climate PREMOS on PICARD, which was a previous PMOD/WRC experiment The Compact Lightweight Absolute running from 2010 to 2014, had a Radiometer (CLARA) on NORSAT-1 is similar absolute uncertainty in its an absolute radiometer for measuring TSI measurements. CLARA's per- Total Solar Irradiance (TSI), which is formance will be sufficient to measure the mean energy input to Earth (per any climate-significant variation even Internal view of CLARA Flight Model. m2 Earth cross-section). Any long- in the eventuality that the TSI moni- term variation of TSI will directly trans- toring record were to be interrupted late into a change of the terrestrial before the launch of NORSAT-1. climate. Measurements of TSI from space have been conducted since Radiometry 1979 and during these 36 years TSI has been 1361 W.m-2 on average and The CLARA experiment sets new varied in phase with the solar cycle standards for TSI radiometers in Institute by about ±0.6 W.m-2 (±0.04%). So far, terms of a reduction in weight and no long-term trend of TSI has been size, without compromising accu- PMOD/WRC, Davos established outside the uncertainties racy and stability (Finsterle et al., Switzerland of a composite from records of eight 2014). The radiometer is fully char- different experiments. acterized on the component level as In Cooperation with well as calibrated end-to-end at the The uncertainty of a trend in the TSI TSI Radiometer Facility (Walter et Norsk Romsenter, Oslo, Norway composite is difficult to assess but, al., 2016). The measuring cadence LASP, Boulder CO, USA is of the order of 0.5 W.m-2. It is un- is 30 s, which will be the highest known and controversially discussed cadance of an absolute radiometer Swiss Principal Investigator in the science community whether in space. This will allow the study of the solar irradiance has a long-term solar irradiance variations at its high W. Schmutz (PMOD/WRC) trend and whether climate variations frequency end to be extended. within the past 10,000 years are re- Co-Investigators lated to changes in solar irradiance Instrument development (see Schmutz, 2016). This is why the B. Anderson (NSC, Norway) World Meteorological Organization The PMOD/WRC has built one en- T. Leifsen (UiO, Norway) lists TSI as an essential climate vari- gineering and two flight units of the G. Kopp (LASP, USA) able (see GCOS Essential Climate CLARA instrument. The institute A. Fehlmann (IAF, USA) Variables). made the mechanical and thermal W. Finsterle (PMOD/WRC) design and manufactured most of the B. Walter (PMOD/WRC) In view of the unknown role of sus- hardware. The electronics was devel- pected (and predicted) TSI variability oped and manufactured completely Method on the terrestrial climate, it is manda- in-house. Swiss industry was re- tory that monitoring of TSI continues sponsible for software development, Measurement on an accuracy level that is capable parts of the hardware manufacturing of capturing any variations that could tasks, for mechanical and thermal Development and Construction have a significant impact on the ter- simulations, and for environmental of Instruments restrial climate. The main science testing. CLARA was assembled at goal of CLARA is to measure TSI PMOD/WRC and calibrated at Lab. dlab GmbH with an uncertainty better than 0.4 for Atmospheric and Space Physics RUAG Space W.m-2 on an absolute irradiance level (LASP) in Boulder Colorado, USA.

46 Solar Physics

The NORSAT-1 Mission space center near Kourou in French Guiana for a scheduled launch in The Norwegian Space Center se- April 2016. However, lected the NORSAT-1 mission as an cancelled NORSAT-1's integration affordable approach to science in onto the launcher at short-notice. space, as part of the National Space The cancellation was due to an in- Program. The satellite will investigate compatibility between the satellite solar radiation, space weather, and and launcher supporting-structure detect ship traffic with an AIS tran- provided by Arianespace. It was con- sponder. The science payload will cluded that it was unsafe to proceed cover two aspects of scientific re- with the launch. The next launch op- search focusing on the sun, including portunity for NORSAT-1 still needs to measuring TSI with a radiometer, and be identified. measuring electron plasma around the Earth with Langmuir probes, Publications which have been developed by the University of Oslo. The CLARA radi- 1. Finsterle, W. et al., (2014), The ometer instrument was developed by new TSI radiometer CLARA, PMOD/WRC. The satellite platform SPIE 9264, eid. 92641S-5, doi: has dimensions of 20 x 20 x 40 cm and 10.1117/12.2069614. was built by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies Space 2. Schmutz, W., (2016), Chapter Flight Lab, Canada. 3.2 in: Our Space Environment: Opportunities, Stakes, and Status Dangers, Eds. C. Nicollier, V. Gass, EPFL Press, ISBN The CLARA flight model was finished 978-2-940222-88-9. in Summer 2015 and calibrated in Autumn 2015 at the TRF in Boulder 3. Walter, B. et al., (2016), The Colorado, USA. It was delivered CLARA/NORSAT-1 solar abso- thereafter to Toronto for integration lute radiometer: Instrument design, on NORSAT-1. The satellite was characterization and calibration, shipped in March 2016 to ESA's Metrologia, in preparation.

Abbreviations

CLARA Compact Lighweight Absolute Radiometer NORSAT-1 Norwegian Satellite NSC Norwegian Space Centre TRF Total solar irradiance Radiometer Facility TSI Total Solar Irradiance

Time-Line From To

Planning 2013 PMOD/WRC engineers with the finished CLARA Flight Model Construction 2014 Sep. 2015 (end of 2015). CLARA has the dimensions 11.4×14.1×15.5 cm Measurement Phase launch 2016/2017 open-ended and a mass of 2.63 kg.

47 Solar Physics

Institute 6.6 STIX – Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-Rays on Solar Orbiter i4Ds FHNW Purpose of Research Status In Cooperation with Solar Orbiter is a joint ESA-NASA col- In October 2012, Solar Orbiter was SRC, Poland laboration that will address the central selected as the first medium-class CEA, Sacaly, France question of heliophysics: How does mission of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015- Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik, the Sun create and control the helio- 2025. STIX was previously selected Potsdam, (AIP), Germany sphere? To achieve this goal, Solar as one of the 10 instruments onboard Czech Space Office, Czech Rep. Orbiter carries a set of 10 instru- Solar Orbiter. STIX successfully Univ. Graz, ments to perform joint observations. passed the Critical Design Review Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Through hard X-ray imaging and (CDR) in 2015 and instrument delivery LESIA, France spectroscopy, the STIX instrument is foreseen for October 2016. Univ. Genova, Italy provides information of heated (>10 MK) plasma and accelerated elec- Principal Investigator trons that are produced as magnetic Publications energy is released during solar flares. S. Krucker (FHNW) 1. Benz, A. O., S. Krucker, G. J. By using this set of diagnostics, STIX Hurford, N. G. Arnold, P. Orleanski, Co-Investigators plays a crucial role in enabling Solar H.-P. Gröbelbauer, S. Klober, L. Iseli, Orbiter to achieve two of its major H. J. Wiehl, A. Csillaghy, and 50 co- J. Sylwester (SRC), O. Limousin (CEA) science goals of: authors, (2012), Space telescopes G. Mann (AIP), N. Vilmer (LESIA) and instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet A. Vernonig (U. Graz), F. Farnik (CSO) 1) Understanding the acceleration of to gamma ray, Proc. SPIE, 8443, P. Gallagher (TCD), M. Piana (Genova) electrons at the Sun and their trans- article id. 84433L, 15 pp. port into interplanetary space, and Method 2) Determining the magnetic con- Abbreviations Measurement nection of the Solar Orbiter back to the Sun. In this way, STIX provides a CDR Critical Design Review Development and crucial link between the remote and STIX Spectrometer/Telescope for Construction of Instruments in-situ instruments of Solar Orbiter. Imaging X-Rays

STIX is a Swiss-lead instrument on- board ESA’s Solar Orbiter mission (launch Oct. 2018). STIX is a hard X-ray imaging spectrometer based on a Fourier-imaging technique similar to that used successfully by the Hard X-ray Telescope (HXT) on the Japanese mission, and related to that used for the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) The Flight Model of the STIX tungsten grids (left) and the STIX detector system called Caliste-SO (right). NASA SMEX mission.

Industrial Hardware Contract to Time-Line From To Planning 2010 2014 Almatech Construction 2014 2016 Art of Technology Measurement Phase 2019 2026 Syderal Data Evaluation 2018 2026

48 Solar Physics

6.7 DARA – Digital Absolute Radiometer on PROBA-3

Purpose of Research Status

The sun is the primary energy source The new DARA radiometer design was for Earth's climate system. Continuous established and a prototype was built and precise TSI measurements are in- and already tested within ESA’s Prodex dispensable to evaluate the influence Programm in 2010. Based on this, the of short and long-term solar radiative similar but smaller instrument CLARA, emission variations on the Earth’s en- built for the Norwegian micro-satellite ergy budget. NORSAT-1, was delivered in October 2015 to be integrated with the satellite. A The DARA absolute radiometer will be continuation of the DARA development Artist's impression of PROBA-3 in orbit. one of PMOD/WRC’s future contribu- re-started in 2015. The DARA design tions to the seamless series of space- was adapted and based on the CLARA borne TSI measurements since 1978. design experience in order to cover in- The existence of a potentially long-term ternal and external requirements. The trend in the activity, and whether harsh environmental influences on or not such a trend could be climate PROBA-3, with high radiation doses effective, is still a matter of debate. accumulating during mission lifetime, Institute Independent DARA measurements requires special care in the selection will also be important to prove if the of components. EM manufacturing PMOD/WRC, Davos new TSI value of 1361 W.m-² can be and testing will occur in 2016. A critical Switzerland verified. The main goal of DARA is to review of the EM will release design continue the TSI data record with un- changes followed by the flight-unit In Cooperation with precedented accuracy and precision. manufacturing phase. ESA DARA is a three-channel active cav- Publications ity Electrical Substitution Radiometer Principal Investigator (ESR) comprising the latest radi- 1. Schmutz, W., et al., (2009), Metrol. ometer developments by PMOD/ 46, S202 – S206, doi: 10.1088/ W. Schmutz (PMOD/WRC) WRC to achieve long-term stability 00261394/46/4/S13. and high accuracy. The calibration Co-Investigators of DARA against a NIST calibrated 2. Fehlmann, A., et al., (2011), Metrol. cryogenic radiometer will guarantee 49, S34 – S38, doi: 10.1088/0026 W. Finsterle (PMOD/WRC) full SI-traceability of irradiance mea- -1394/49/2/S34. B. Walter (PMOD/WRC) surements. DARA is a payload ex- A. Zhukov (ROB) periment on ESA’s PROBA-3 satellite Abbreviations with a nominal mission duration of two Method years. PROBA-3 will be the world’s CLARA Compact Lightweight Absolute first precision formation flying mission. Radiometer Measurement A pair of satellites will fly together main- EM/FM Engineering/Flight Model taining a fixed configuration as a "large ESR Elec. Substitution Radiometer Development and rigid structure" in space, representing PROBA-3 Project for On-Board Autonomy Construction of Instruments a coronagraph configuration. TSI Total Solar Irradiance The DARA experiment is PMOD/ Time-Line From To WRC’s contribution to the ESA mis- Planning end of 2013 early 2015 sion PROBA-3. It is a three channel Construction end of 2015 (EM) May 2017 (FM) absolute radiometer to measure TSI. Measurement Phase 2018 open DARA has been developed and built Data Evaluation 2018 open in-house at PMOD/WRC.

49 Solar Physics

6.8 MiSolFA – The Micro Solar-Flare Apparatus

Purpose of Research Status

Operating at the same time as the STIX The mission definition will be complete instrument on the ESA Solar Orbiter in 2016, in collaboration with the Italian mission during the next solar - Space Agency (ASI) and the IMT com- mum (2020), MiSolFa and STIX will have pany in Rome. The goal is to be ready the unique opportunity to observe the for flight in 2020. same flare from two different directions: ASI will take care of the launch 1) Solar Orbiter will be very close and will contribute to the operation Preliminary satellite concept for MiSolFA. to the Sun with significant orbital by providing a ground station and inclination. telecommunication.

2) MiSolFA will be in a near-Earth orbit. Abbreviations

MiSolFA will adopt the same photon ASI detectors as STIX, precisely quantify- MiSolFA The Micro Solar-Flare Institute ing the anisotropy of solar hard X-ray Apparatus emissions for the first time to investigate STIX Spectrometer/Telescope i4Ds particle acceleration in solar flares. for Imaging X-rays

Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW)

Principal Investigator

D. Casadei (FHNW)

Co-Investigator

S. Krucker (FHNW)

Method

Measurement Sketch of the flare Development and hard X-ray stereoscopy, Construction of Instruments loosely based on RHESSI observations of the The Micro Solar-Flare Apparatus from 20 Jan. 2005 (only in 2-D). (MiSolFA) is a compact X-ray imaging spectrometer that fits into a micro- satelite (30 cm x 20 cm x 10 cm, a so-called 6 unit cubsat). Time-Line From To Planning 2015 2017 Industrial Hardware Contract to Construction 2017 2020 Measurement Phase 2020 2021 Still in R&D phase. Data Evaluation 2020 2022

50 Solar Physics

6.9 FLARECAST – Flare Likelihood and Region Eruption Forecasting

Purpose of Research Status

FLARECAST will develop an ad- FLARECAST has evolved from es- vanced solar flare prediction system tablishment to maturity phase. Active based on automatically extracted region flare-associated properties physical properties of solar active have been catalogued. Explorative regions, coupled with state-of-the- research on devising new predictors, art flare prediction methods and studying the evolution of existing ones validated using optimal validation toward flaring and linking flares to Institute practices. coronal mass ejections has begun. i4Ds FLARECAST will form the basis of The infrastructure for accessing and FHNW the first quantitative, physically moti- processing SoHO/HMI data using vated and autonomous active-region machine- and deep-learning tech- In Cooperation with monitoring and flare-forecasting sys- niques is up and running, while dis- tem, designed for unrestricted use by semination efforts toward the scien- Academy of Athens (AA), Greece space-weather researchers and fore- tific community, governmental and Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ireland casters in Europe as well as around industrial end-users and the general Univ. Degli Studi Di Genova, the globe. public are intensifying. (UNIGEN), Italy CNR, Italy CNRS, France Univ. Paris-Sud, (PSUD), France Abbreviations Met. Office, UK

FLARECAST Flare Likelihood and Region Eruption Forecasting Principal Investigator

HMI Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager M. K. Georgoulis (RCAAM, Academy of Athens) SoHO Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Swiss Principal Investigator

A. Csillaghy

Co-Investigators

M. Soldati (FHNW) H. Sathiapal (FHNW)

Method

Measurement and Simulation

Research Based on Existing Instruments

A European research project aiming to develop a fully automated solar-flare forecasting system with an unmatched accuracy compared to existing facilities.

51 Earth Observation, Remote Sensing

7 Earth Observation, Remote Sensing

7.1 APEX – Airborne Prism Experiment

Purpose of Research since 2009 using the latest process- ing algorithms. In parallel, RSL man- ESA’s Airborne Imaging Spectrometer ages the flights for Swiss partners APEX (Airborne Prism Experiment) within Switzerland and occasional was developed under the PRODEX special campaigns with partner insti- (PROgramme de Développement tutes abroad. General operations are d'EXpériences scientifiques) pro- carried out by the partner organisa- gram by a Swiss-Belgian consortium tion VITO. and entered its operational phase at the end of 2010 (Schaepman et al., Publications APEX in the calibration laboratory. 2015). It collects spectral data in the VNIR – SWIR range from 385 nm to 1. Hueni, A. et al., (2013), The APEX 2500 nm. APEX is designed to col- (Airborne Prism Experiment - lect imaging spectroscopy data at a Imaging Spectrometer) calibra- regional scale, serving as data source tion information system, IEEE to answer questions within Earth Trans. Geo. Rem. Sens. 51 (11), Institute System Sciences, and to simulate, 5169 – 5180. calibrate and validate optical airborne Remote Sensing Labs (RSL) and satellite-based sensors. 2. Hueni, A. et al., (2014), Impacts Dept. Geog., Univ. Zurich of dichroic prism coatings on ra- Status diometry of the airborne imaging In Cooperation with spectrometer apex, Appl. Opt., 53, RSL is responsible for the scientific 5344 – 5352. ESA/PRODEX management of the project, for added value within the calibration chain of 3. Schaepman, M. et al., (2015), ESA/EOEP the APEX instrument, the product Advanced radiometry measure- generation, and for extending and ments and Earth science appli- VITO, Belgium maintaining the Processing and cations with the airborne prism Archiving Facility. The latter is a uni- experiment (APEX). Rem. Sens. Principal Investigator versal, database driven system sup- Environ., 158, 207 – 219. porting the processing and distribu- M. E. Schaepman (RSL) tion of all APEX raw data acquisitions. Abbreviations Sophisticated information technology Co-Investigators tools are used for a versatile process- APEX Airborne Prism Experiment ing system, which is designed to be ENMAP ENv. Map. & Analysis Prog K. Meuleman (VITO) persistent throughout the operational EOEP Earth Obs. Envelope Prog A. Hueni (RSL) phase of the instrument. PRODEX PROg. de Dev. d’EXperiences Scient. Method The processing and archiving facility RSL Remote Sensing Lab. is being continuously updated to al- SWIR Short Wave InfraRed Measurement low the reprocessing of data acquired VITO Vlaamse Inst. Tech. Onder.

Research Based on Existing Instruments Time-Line From To Exploitation of the APEX instrument Planning 1997 2000 during extensive measurement cam- Construction 2002 2010 paigns in the calibration home base Measurement Phase 2011 ongoing and in the field. Data Evaluation 2011 ongoing

52 Earth Observation, Remote Sensing

7.2 APEX Instrument and Uncertainty Model

Purpose of Research Publications

ESA’s Airborne Imaging Spectrometer 1. Hueni, A., J. Biesemans, K. APEX (Airborne Prism Experiment) Meuleman, F. Dell’Endice, D. was developed under the PRODEX Schläpfer, S. Adriaensen, S. (PROgramme de Développement Kempenaers, D. Odermatt, M. d'EXpériences scientifiques) program Kneubuehler, J. Nieke, and K. Itten, by a Swiss-Belgian consortium and (2009), Structure, Components and entered its operational phase at the Interfaces of the Airborne Prism end of 2010 (Schaepman et al., 2015). Experiment (APEX) Processing and Archiving Facility, IEEE Trans. Geo. Work on the sensor model has been Rem. Sens., 47, 29 – 43. carried out extensively within the framework of the European Metrology 2. Hueni, A., K. Lenhard, A. Baum­ Research Program as part of the gartner, and M. Schaepman, Metrology for Earth Observation and (2013), The APEX (Airborne Climate (MetEOC and MetEOC2). The Prism Experiment – Imaging focus has been to improve labora- Spectrometer) Calibration Institute tory calibration procedures in order Information System, IEEE Trans. to reduce uncertainties, to establish Geo. Rem. Sens., 51, 5169 – 5180. Remote Sensing Labs (RSL) a laboratory uncertainty budget and Dept. Geog., Univ. Zurich to upgrade the sensor model to com- 3. Hueni, A., S. Sterckx, and M. Jehle, pensate for sensor specific biases. (2013), Operational Calibration of In Cooperation with APEX, in Proc. IGARSS 2013, Status Melbourne (AUS), July 21 – 26, NPL, UK (2013), Melbourne. The updated sensor model relies Principal Investigator largely on data collected during dedi- 4. Hueni, A., M. Jehle, A. Damm, cated characterisation experiments in A. Burkart, and M. Schaepman, N. Fox the APEX calibration home base, but (2013), Spectroscopy information includes airborne data as well where systems for Earth system science, Swiss Principal Investigator the simulation of environmental con- in ESA PV2013 Workshop, Frascati. ditions in the given laboratory setup A. Hueni (RSL) was not feasible. The additions to 5. Hueni, A., D. Schlaepfer, M. Jehle the model deal with artefacts caused and M. E. Schaepman, (2014), Co-Investigators by environmental changes and elec- Impacts of dichroic prism coat- tronic features, namely: 1) the impact ings on radiometry of the Airborne M. E. Schaepman (RSL) of ambient air pressure changes on Imaging Spectrometer APEX, Appl. M. Kneubühler (RSL) the radiometry in combination with Opt. 53(24), 5344 – 5352. dichroic coatings, 2) the influence of Method external air temperatures and con- sequently instrument baffle tempera- Abbreviations Measurement tures on the radiometry, and 3) elec- tronic anomalies causing radiometric APEX Airborne Prism Experiment Research Based errors in the four shortwave infrared PRODEX PROg. de Dev. on Existing Instruments detector readout blocks. Work on the d’EXperiences Scient. sensor model and the uncertainty Improvement of the APEX sensor budget for the in-flight case is cur- model and establishment of an un- rently ongoing. certainty budget.

53 Earth Observation, Remote Sensing

7.3 SPECCHIO – Spectral Information System

Purpose of Research SPECCHIO is currently the most ad- vanced spectral information system Scientific efforts to observe the state within the domain of Earth observing of natural systems over time, allowing remote sensing. the prediction of future states, have led to a burgeoning interest for the SPECCHIO is also open source organised storage of spectral field and was made available in 2015 as data and associated metadata .This a virtual machine image, which al- is seen as being key to the success- lows anyone to run the full system ful and efficient modeling of such on their personal laptop, thus sup- systems. porting its full functionality under field conditions. A centralised system for such data, Institute established for the remote sensing For further information please refer to community, aims to standardise www.specchio.ch and http://optimise. Remote Sensing Labs (RSL) storage parameters and metadata, dcs.aber.ac.uk/working-groups/ Dept. Geog., Univ. Zurich thus fostering best practice proto- wg1-spectral-information-system/. cols and collaborative research. The In Cooperation with development of a spectral informa- tion system will not only ensure the Publications ANDS long-term storage of data but support (Australian National Data Service) scientists in data analysis activities, 1. Hueni, A., J. Nieke, J. Schopfer, M. essentially leading to improved re- Kneubühler, and K. Itten, (2009), EuroSpec COST Action ES0903 peatability of results, superior repro- The spectral database SPECCHIO cessing capabilities, and promotion for improved long term usability OPTIMSE ES1309 COST Action of best practice. and data sharing, Computers & Geosciences, 35, 557 – 565. Specnet Spectral Network Status 2. Hueni, A., T. Malthus, M. Kneu­ Principal Investigator buehler, and M. Schaepman, SPECCHIO is being actively and con- (2011), Data exchange between A. Hueni (RSL) tinuously developed. Major contribu- distributed spectral databases, tions have been made to the system Computers & Geosciences, 37, Co-Investigators in the past year via funding provid- 861 – 873. ed by the Australian National Data L. Chisholm (UoW, Australia) Service and the EuroSpec COST 3. Hueni, A., L. Chisholm, L. Suarez, M. E. Schaepman (RSL) Action ES0903. SPECCHIO also C. Ong, and M. Wyatt, (2012), M. Kneubühler (RSL) serves as the "Spectral Information Spectral information system devel- System" component which is be- opment for Australia, in Geospatial Method ing fostered and developed within Science Research Symposium Working Group 1 of the OPTIMSE Melbourne, Australia. Measurement ES1309 COST Action. 4. Hueni, A., M. Jehle, A. Damm, Development of Software SPECCHIO is being routinely used at A. Burkart, and M. Schaepman, about 40 research institutions world- (2013), Spectroscopy information Development of a Spectral Information wide as well as in teaching activities systems for Earth System science, System for the storage of spectral field at the Remote Sensing Laboratories, in ESA PV2013 Workshop, Frascati, and laboratory data and associated University of Zurich. Italy. metadata.

54 Earth Observation, Remote Sensing

7.4 HYLIGHT – Integrated Use of Airborne Hyperspec- tral Imaging Data and Airborne Laser Scanning Data PAI 1.5

Purpose of Research in environmental and geo-sciences 0.75 through Networking Activities (NA), The Joint Research Activity (JRA) Trans-national Access (TA) Activities 0 HYLIGHT is developing methodolo- and Joint Research Activities (JRA). gies and tools for the integrated use of The long term objectives of EUFAR are Example of PAI airborne hyperspectral imaging (HSI) to lay the groundwork of a European output for the data and airborne laser scanning (ALS) distributed infrastructure for airborne Laegern test site. data in order to produce improved HSI research in environmental and geo- and ALS vegetation information. sciences for each European scientist to obtain access on "equal terms" Institute The developed methodologies, proto- to the airborne facility which is most types and tools will be tested by the suited to his/her scientific objectives. Remote Sensing Labs (RSL) involved data processing facilities to Dept. Geog., Univ. Zurich improve the quality of both HSI and ALS data products for the scientific Status In Cooperation with users. RSL contributes by providing advanced, ray-tracing based vegeta- EUFAR2-HYLIGHT started in 2014. VITO, Belgium tion layers from ALS data to be used ONERA, France in radiative transfer modelling. DLR, Germany Publications INTA, Spain HYLIGHT tools and datasets are free- PML, UK ly available via the EUFAR toolbox and 1. Reusen, I. et al., (2009), EUFAR goes CVGZ, Czech Republic the EUFAR handbook. Additionally, hyperspectral in FP-7. In: Workshop TAU, Israel RSL provides access to HSI and on hyperspectral image and signal TU Wien, Austria ALS data gathered over the calibra- processing: evolution in remote tion supersite Lägeren, established in sensing, Grenoble, France, 1 – 4. Principal Investigator the ESA STSE project '3D Vegetation Laboratory'. EUFAR (www.eufar.net) 2. Bachmann, M. et al., (2011), EUFAR Ils Reusen (VITO) was an Integrating Activity funded by FP7 HyQuaPro (JRA-2), Report on the EC 7th Framework Programme. Quality Layers for VITO, DLR, INTO Swiss Principal Investigator and PML, Toulouse, EUFAR. The activity was extended as EUFAR2 F. Morsdorf (RSL) to run from 2014 – 2018 (24 partners). 3. Schneider, F. D. et al., (2014), It aims to provide and improve the Simulating imaging spectrometer Co-Investigators access to airborne facilities (i.e. air- data: 3d forest modeling based on craft, airborne instruments, data lidar and in situ data, Rem. Sens. A. Hueni (RSL) processing centers) for researchers Environ. 152, 235 – 250. M. Kneubühler (RSL) D. Kükenbrink (RSL) M. E. Schaepman (RSL) Abbreviations Method HYLIGHT FP7/EUFAR2 Joint Res.Activity on Integrated use of airborne hyper spectral imaging data and airborne laser scanning data Simulation EUFAR2 FP-7 Integrating Activity 'European Framework for Airborne Research', 2014 – 2018. Research Based on Existing Instruments Time-Line From To Measurement Phase 2014 2018 Airborne hyperspectral sensors and Data Evaluation 2014 2018 laser scanners.

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7.5 Wet Snow Monitoring with Spaceborne SAR

Purpose of Research therefore implies by necessity open- ness to differing tracks, modes, and The University of Zurich Remote nominal incident angles. Not being Sensing Laboratories (UZH-RSL) open to multiple tracks triggers (in the works with ESA and other partners absence of terrain-flattening) incom- to develop a novel spaceborne SAR patibility with meaningful short-term image product whereby many of the comparisons or quick revisits when effects of topography on radar im- monitoring large regions. Only terrain- age brightness are modelled and flattened backscatter, a product we corrected before estimating the call terrain-flattened gamma nought, backscatter coefficient at each im- offers the possibility of combining age coordinate. data from multiple SAR sensors ac- quired over rolling terrain. Institute The new type of product offers several benefits. Comparisons of backscatter The ESA Sentinel-1 radar satellites, Remote Sensing Labs (RSL) from image acquisitions made from the first of which was launched in April Dept. Geog., Univ. Zurich differing orbital tracks become pos- 2014, are acquiring regular images of sible. Flattening the terrain-induced Europe at 20 m resolution. RSL has In Cooperation with effects on radar brightness enables been generating composite back- significantly more frequent revisits to a scatter images of the European Alps European Space Agency (ESA) specific point on the Earth, particular- as well as other regions to test a new ly given the availability of a wide swath method for snow-melt monitoring. (CSA) mode such as C-band ASAR WS, RADARSAT-2 SCN & SCW, L -band Given the severe topography in WSL Institute for Snow and ALOS PALSAR WB (wide beam), or Switzerland, construction of back- Avalanche Research (SLF) the wide ScanSAR modes from the scatter time-series requires rigorous X-band sensors CosmoSkymed, radiometric calibration that accounts Swiss Principal Investigator TSX, TDX, and (soon) . for track-dependent terrain-induced effects. If a standard terrain-flattened D. Small (RSL) Use of the new products enables backscatter product could be offered a great improvement in "temporal by ESA, this would simplify inter- Co-Investigators resolution", a parameter of critical pretation of SAR imagery not only importance in land-cover monitor- in Switzerland, but throughout the E. Meier (RSL) ing to lower the probability of miss- world. A. Schubert (RSL) ing events of brief duration. Data-rich time-series can be built up for a cho- Method sen area much more quickly from a single sensor given a wider variety of Measurement tracks (even combinations of ascend- ing and descending passes), and Research Based on especially to integrate backscatter Existing Instruments measurements from a diversity of sensors. Sentinel-1 ASAR Each sensor is typically characterised ALOS PALSAR by the single orbital repeat period TerraSAR-X chosen at launch and the set of beam RADARSAT-2 modes on offer. Building algorithms COSMO-SKYMED that are open to multiple sensors

56 Earth Observation, Remote Sensing

Status different spaceborne SAR sensors are being coordinated through the A terrain-normalisation method for WMO Polar Space Task Group SAR imagery covering steep ter- (WMO-PSTG). Tools are in develop- rain has been developed and tested ment for integration of wide swath using data from major spaceborne C-band Radarsat-2 and Sentinel-1, SAR sensors. Further tests are un- and X-band CSK, TSX, TDX, and der way using data from Sentinel1A, PAZ data. RADARSAT-2, and TerraSAR-X. In the case of wide-swath C-band data cov- Publications ering Switzerland, seasonal trends have been established (see accom- 1. Small, D., (2011), Flattening gamma: panying image). Radiometric terrain correction for The 2015 springtime melting process is shown in the image. Three SAR imagery, IEEE Trans. Geosci. 16-day periods were available. All Sentinel-1 IW acquisitions within Springtime melting in the Swiss Alps Rem. Sens., 49, 8, 3081 – 3093, each window were used to automatically generate a radiometrically is clearly visible: terrain-flattened doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2011.2120616. and geometrically corrected backscatter mosaic product. The three backscatter makes monitoring the products were assigned to the red (late March), green (mid April), and snow-melt theoretically possible with 2. Small, D., N. Miranda, T. Ewen, and blue (early June) channels, respectively. High mountain peaks that multiple observations per week using T. Jonas, (2013), Reliably flattened only began melting in late May appear yellow, as they generate dark data from the Sentinel-1 satellites. backscatter for wet snow mapping 'wet snow' backscatter only in the last period: bright red/green and The companion satellite to Sentinel- from wide-swath sensors, Proc. dark blue produces the yellow colour seen. The highest peaks (e.g. in 1A, Sentinel-1B, is due for launch later ESA Living Planet Symposium, 8pp. the Bernese Oberland and Valais) covered by snow that remained dry in 2016. in all 3 time-windows returned strong backscatter, appearing white. 3. Schubert, A., D. Small, N. Miranda, Wet snow measurements have been D. Geudtner, and E. Meier, (2015), evaluated qualitatively and are being Sentinel-1A product Geolocation compared with state-of-the-art op- accuracy: Commissioning erational methodologies. Harmonized phase results, Rem. Sens., 7(7), data acquisition strategies for the 9431 – 9449.

Abbreviations

PALSAR Phased Array L –band Synthetic Aperture Radar RSL Remote Sensing Labs SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar SCN RADARSAT ScanSAR Narrow SCW RADARSAT ScanSAR Wide TSX/TDX/PAZ TerraSAR–X satellites (X–band)

Time-Line From To Planning ongoing Construction Measurement Phase 2002 ongoing Data Evaluation 2010 ongoing

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7.6 Moving Target Tracking in SAR Images

Purpose of Research detected and their velocities were estimated within an error of 0.09 ± Ground Moving Target Indication 1.13 km.h -1, evaluated using ground- (GMTI) in synthetic aperture radar based measurements. As the vehi- (SAR) data addresses the task of cles are illuminated by the sensor for extracting information about moving 30 s on average, velocity profiles can objects. SAR-GMTI allows moving be calculated and analyzed for each objects to be indicated while simul- moving object. Due to the Doppler Moving objects as detected by the tracking algorithm. The circles taneously imaging the area of interest effect, all moving objects are smeared with the identification number indicate the position in the SAR im- and works independently of weather and displaced in SAR images. age space, and the crosses the real position on the road. conditions and daytime. With accurate estimates of velocity However, since SAR was originally and position, it becomes possible to developed for use in static scenes, re-focus the detected vehicles. This the problem of extracting information allows private cars to be distinguished from moving objects is a challenging from trucks. The vehicles' length was Institute task which has evolved over the last estimated with an error of -0.03 m decade and demands state-of-the- ± 0.48 m. Remote Sensing Labs (RSL) art processing techniques. Best re- Dept. Geog., Univ. Zurich sults are achieved when: (1) combin- The SAR-GMTI project is an ongoing ing several extraction schemes, and research topic. While in recent years In Cooperation with (2) analyzing the dynamic behavior of the focus has been placed on the the moving objects over time using GMTI data processing of a pulsed armasuisse (CH) sub-aperture processing techniques. SAR system belonging to DLR, it is planned to design and extend an German Aerospace Center In recent years, a temporal tracking in-house experimental frequency- (DLR), Germany framework has been developed at modulated continuous wave sensor RSL and several different extraction for SAR-GMTI applications, in close Fraunhofer Inst. High Freq. Physics methods have been implemented. collaboration with armasuisse and and Radar Techn. (FHR), Germany For the extraction scheme, (1) single- Fraunhofer FHR. channel, video-like processing, (2) Swiss Principal Investigator along-track interferometry, and, (3) Publications more recently, exo-clutter methods E. Meier (RSL) relying on a high pulse repetition sen- 1. Henke, D., et al., (2015), Moving sor configuration, are available. The target tracking in single and multi- Co-Investigators final output of the tracking algorithm channel SAR, IEEE Trans. Geosci. provides the trajectories of the mov- Rem. Sens. 53(6), 3146 – 3159. D. Henke (RSL) ing objects. An example case at a E. Casalini (RSL) specific time-step is presented in the 2. Henke D., and E. Meier, (2015), M. E. Schaepman (RSL) adjacent figure. Tracking and refocussing of moving targets in multichannel SAR data, Method Status IEEE Geosci. Rem. Sens. Symp. (IGARSS), 3735 – 3738. Measurement A campaign recording the traffic flow on the Seedamm over Lake Abbreviations Research Based Zurich with DLR's F-SAR in 2013 on Existing Instruments demonstrated the high accuracy of GMTI Ground Moving Target the approach: All vehicles driving Indication Airborne SAR sensors on the Seedamm were successfully SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar

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7.7 Calibration Targets for MetOp-SG Instruments MWS and ICI

Purpose of Research results with temperature distributions obtained by thermal simulations. To The second generation of the support the design process, elec- Meteorological Operational (MetOp- tromagnetic properties of numerous SG) satellite is a series of - microwave absorber materials have ing meteorological satellites carrying been experimentally assessed and scientific instruments to provide at- evaluated. First breadboard targets mospheric remote sensing observa- were manufactured by Thomas tions for numerical weather predic- Keating (UK) and have been tested tion. Two of the instruments to be in a specially developed quasi-optical flown on MetOp-SG satellites are the measurement set-up at the IAP. Detail of a pyramidal calibration target prototype of ICI. Microwave Sounder (MWS) and Ice Cloud Imager (ICI). MWS is a cross- In addition, IAP is collaborating with track scanning radiometer measur- TK Instruments and IABG in the de- ing atmospheric temperature and velopment of the on-ground calibra- humidity profiles in the microwave tion targets for the ICI instrument. Institute regime, while ICI is a conically scan- These will be used for the ground ning radiometer providing ice cloud calibration and radiometric perfor- Institute Applied Physics (IAP), and snowfall imaging in a broad fre- mance verification of the ICI instru- Univ. Bern quency spectrum from millimetre to ment. These on-ground targets need sub-millimetre waves. to operate at cryogenic temperatures In Cooperation with with an accurately controlled variable A key component of MWS and ICI temperature, and they have to meet TK Instruments, UK are their blackbody calibration targets more challenging performance re- Airbus Space and Defence, UK which are required for the accurate quirements than the flight targets. Airbus Space and Defence, Spain radiometric calibration of the instru- IABG, Germany ments. Ensuring a high temperature Status European Space Agency uniformity and a low microwave reflectivity at the same time consti- The contracts for the three projects Swiss Principal Investigator tutes the major challenges in their were awarded in 2015. First proto- development. The IAP is responsible types of the ICI and MWS onboard A. Murk (IAP) for the design and the experimental targets have been manufactured verification of the onboard calibra- and tested. The Preliminary Design Co-Investigators tion targets. They are optimized using Review is scheduled for June 2016. electromagnetic simulations based A. Schröder on the finite element method and Publications M. Kotirantat asymptotic techniques. 1. Schröder, A. and A. Murk, (2015), Method In order to determine the effective 36th ESA Antenna Workshop on brightness temperature of the tar- Antennas & RF Systems for Sp. Sci. Simulation get, we have developed a numerical procedure to couple electromagnetic 2. Murk, A. et al., (2016), 10th Euro. Developments Conf. Antennas & Propagation. Development and Construction of Time-Line From To Instrument Planning 2013 2015 Construction 2015 2016 Industrial Hardware Contract to Measurement Phase 2015 2018 Data Evaluation 2016 2019 TK Instruments, UK

59 Earth Observation, Remote Sensing

7.8 FLEX – FLuorescence EXplorer Mission

Purpose of Research At the beginning of 2016, the FLEX Mission Advisory Group (MAG) was The FLuorescence EXplorer satel- established. Together with eight oth- lite mission will map sun-induced er experts from European countries chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) emit- and Canada, Dr. Alexander Damm ted by vegetation at a global scale. (Remote Sensing Laboratories, SIF is the most direct measurement University of Zurich, Switzerland) has of photosynthesis at an ecosystem become a member of the MAG. The scale. Key objectives of FLEX are to launch of FLEX is foreseen for 2022. measure several properties of emitted SIF signals, including: Publications Mission concept of ESA’s 8th Earth Explorer Mission FLEX i) SIF emitted around the two oxygen (Fluorescence Explorer) © ESA/ATG medialab. absorption features O2-A and O2-B, 1. Kraft, S. et al., (2013), FLORIS: phase A status of the fluores- ii) SIF emissions at the two emission cence imaging spectrometer of peaks at 685 and 740 nm, the Earth Explorer mission can- Institute didate FLEX. Proc. SPIE 8889, iii) total fluorescence integrated over Sensors, Systems, and Next- Remote Sensing Labs (RSL) the full emission spectrum, and Generation Satellites XVII, 8889, Dept. Geog., Univ. Zurich 88890T – 88812. iv) the individual contributions from In Cooperation with photosystem I and II. 2. ESA, (2015), Report for Mission Selection: FLEX. ESA SP-1330/2 ESA, Netherlands The FLEX mission will have significant (2 volume series), European Univ. Valencia, Spain implications for ecosystem research Space Agency, Noordwijk, The Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany and food security in the context of Netherlands. CNR, Inst. Biometeorology, Italy environmental change. SIF is a com- Lab. Meteorologie Dyn., France plementary measurement of vegeta- 3. Rascher, U. et al., (2015), Sun- P&M Technologies, Canada tion status and health and offers new induced fluorescence – a new Univ. Twente, Netherlands pathways to assess, e.g., ecosystem probe of photosynthesis: First Univ. Milano Bicocca, Italy functioning, gas and energy exchang- maps from the imaging spec- Univ. Helsinki, es of terrestrial ecosystems, as well trometer HyPlant Global Change NASA Goddard, USA as biodiversity. Biology, 21, 4673 – 4684.

Principal Investigator Status Abbreviations J. Moreno In November 2015, FLEX was selected FLEX FLuorescence EXplorer Method for implementation as an outcome of Mission ESA's user consultation meeting in MAG Mission Advisory Group Measurement Krakow, Poland. After several prepara- SIF Sun-Induced chlorophyll tory studies in the frame of Phase 0 of Fluorescence Development and ESA's Earth and Phase A/ Construction of Instruments B1 of ESA's Earth activities, FLEX has now entered Phase B2. Development of the tandem satellite mission FLEX/Sentinel-3, and FLORIS (fluorescence imaging spectrometer).

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7.9 SEON – Swiss Earth Observatory Network

Purpose of Research • Modelling trends of agricultural management and impact on soil The Swiss Earth Observatory functions. Network (SEON), funded by the Swiss University Conference and SEON actively supports young aca- ETH-board, is a competence cen- demics and contributes to regular tre to monitor status and functioning curricula to educate next-genera- of Swiss ecosystems in a changing tion professionals in Earth system environment. An increasing demand science. for natural resources impacts impor- tant biotic and physical processes Status Spectral surface albedo of Findelen Glacier from APEX-HCRF data. within the Earth system and causes complex interactions within terrestrial The SEON project started in January ecosystems. SEON pursues a holistic 2013. Selected Swiss ecosystems Institute Earth system science approach to are monitored using the APEX im- assess environmental change im- aging spectrometer and in-situ in- Remote Sensing Labs (RSL) pacts on ecosystem functioning and strumentation. Since 2015, activities Dept. Geog., Univ. Zurich considers complex feedback mecha- have also focussed on the integration nisms between the Earth's spheres, of observations in process models In Cooperation with including the human impact. and the assessment of policy rel- evant scales. Dept. Geowiss. – Alpine Cryos. Complex interactions between the Geomorph., Univ. Fribourg Earth’s spheres and underlying physi- Publications Aquatic Physics, Eawag cal processes will be assessed using Lab. Air Poll. Environ. Techn., EMPA coupled models and observations 1. Damm, A. et al., (2015), Far-red Inst. Agricultural Sci. – Grassland in a holistic fashion. Backbones of sun-induced chlorophyll fluores- Science, ETH Zurich SEON are state-of-the-art observato- cence shows ecosystem-specific Inst. Agricultural Sci. – Crop ries, in-situ measurements, and mod- relationships to gross primary pro- Science, ETH Zurich els. The project consortium focuses duction: An assessment based on on several research topics: observational and modeling ap- Principal Investigator proaches, Rem. Sens. Environ. • Spatio-temporal quantification of 166, 91 – 105, DOI: 10.1016/j. M. E. Schaepman (RSL) ecosystem processes (i.e., NPP). rse.2015.06.004. Co-Investigators • Energy and gas exchange of ter- 2. Naegeli, K. et al., (2015), Imaging restrial ecosystems. spectroscopy to assess the com- D. Brunner, N. Buchmann position of ice surface materials A. Damm, M. Hoelzle • Resource utilization and efficiency and their impact on glacier mass A. Walter, J. Wüest of major crop species. balance, Rem. Sens. Environ., 168, 388-402, DOI: 10.1016/j. Method • Exchange processes of aquatic rse.2015.07.006. ecosystems and mapping of IOP/ Measurement AO P. 3. Schaepman, M. E. et al., (2015), Advanced radiometry measure- Research Based • Air quality and atmospheric trans- ments and Earth science appli- on Existing Instruments

port processes of NO2. cations with the Airborne Prism Experiment (APEX), Rem. Sens. SEON is based on state-of-the-art air- • Dynamics of the cryosphere and Environ. 158, 207 – 219, DOI: borne instrs. (APEX), optical satellite monitoring of snow/ice parameters. 10.1016/j.rse.2014.11.014. data, in-situ meas., process models.

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7.10 EGSIEM – European Gravity Service for Improved Emergency Management

Purpose of Research Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI, operated by the Earth observation satellites yield German Aerospace Center) and a wealth of data for scientific, op- its future use within international erational and commercial exploita- initiatives such as the Copernicus tion. However, the redistribution of Emergency Management Service and environmental mass is not yet part the International Charter 'Space and of the standard Earth observation Major Disasters'. data products to date. These ob- servations, derived from the Gravity The performance of the EGSIEM Recovery and Climate Experiment products will be assessed with (GRACE) mission and in the near fu- complementary data and post-pro- ture by GRACE-FO (follow-on), deliver cessed mass products derived from fundamental insights into the global the combined knowledge of the entire water cycle. Changes in continental European GRACE community unified water storage control the regional in the EGSIEM project. The EGSIEM water budget and can, in extreme effort culminates in three dedicated cases, result in floods and droughts services: that often claim a high toll on infra- structure, economy and human lives. 1) A scientific combination service,

The aim of the European Gravity 2) A near real –time service, and Service for Improved Emergency Management (EGSIEM) is to dem- 3) A hydrological/early warning onstrate that mass redistribution service. products open the door for innova- tive approaches to flood and drought monitoring and forecast. Institute Status The timeliness and reliability of infor- Astronomical Institute, mation is the primary concern for any Starting in January 2015, EGSIEM Univ. Bern (AIUB) early-warning system. EGSIEM aims has initated a unification of knowl- to increase the temporal resolution edge within the entire European In Cooperation with from one month, typical for GRACE GRACE community, in order to pave products, to one day and to provide the way for a long-awaited standardi- EGSIEM Consortium gravity field information within 5 days sation of gravity-derived products. By (near real–time). combining the results obtained from Swiss Principal Investigator different analysis centers belonging Early warning indications derived to the EGSIEM consortium, each A. Jäggi (AIUB) from these products are expected of which use independent analysis to improve the timely awareness methods but employ consistent pro- Co-Investigators of potentially evolving hydrological cessing standards, it is expected that extremes and to help in the sched- the quality, robustness and reliability U. Meyer uling of high-resolution follow-up of these data can be significantly Y. Jean observations. increased.

Method EGSIEM will provide adequate data In addition, EGSIEM has started products and indicators for tenta- working to increase the temporal Measurement tive integration into the work of the resolution from one month to one day.

62 Earth Observation, Remote Sensing

This is an essential step to provide Publications gravity field information within five days (essentially near real-time) that 1. Jäggi, A., et al., (2015), European will translate into tremendous added Gravity Service for Improved value for warning and forecasting the Emergency Management – Project onset of natural hazards based on Overview and First Results. AGU gravity-based indicators. Fall Meeting 2015, San Francisco.

Abbreviations

EGSIEM European Gravity Service for Improved Emergency Management GNSS Global Navigation Satellite Systems GRACE Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment SLR Satellite Laser Ranging

General concept of EGSIEM: Satellite data from Altimetry, Gravity, GNSS, SLR and Copernicus missions will be used to create three services, all tailored to the needs of governments, scientists, decision makers, stakeholders and engineers. Special visualisation tools will be used to inform, update, and to also attract the wider public.

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7.11 Relative Normalization of Multi-Sensor Remote Sensing Images with Machine Learning

Purpose of Research ground material, shares a similar spectral response throughout all the The MultiModal Remote Sensing acquisitions considered. The task is (MMRS) Unit of the University of Zurich very challenging, especially in the works together with the University of case where the pixels are observed València to develop statistical meth- by different sensors (e.g. WorldView2 odologies making classification algo- vs RGB aerial data). The outcome of rithms better: with this project, we aim the method is a relative normalization to make classification models more scheme that provides the image data robust to changes in illumination and in a projected space that is the same atmospheric conditions, as well as for all acquisitions and in which a sin- making classifiers directly applicable gle classification algorithm, valid to when using different sensors. process all images, can be deployed.

This line of research offers several The methodologies allow the benefits. A classification model is al- following: ways a tributary of a series of ground samples that are used to recognize • Increase the value of field cam- the objects represented. But such paigns, since the data acquired Institute examples provide spectral informa- can be reused to process images tion that is dependent on the specific other than those acquired during MultiModal Remote Sensing acquisition conditions (e.g. illumina- the campaign. (MMRS), Dept. Geography tion, angle, atmospheric conditions), Univ. Zurich-Irchel the seasonal effects (pheonological • Increase the value of remote sensing cycles) and the sensor specifica- data acquired, since it allows the In Cooperation with tions (e.g. number of bands, spectral generation of quality products for a bandpasses). Such dependencies higher number of image acquisitions Univ. València, Spain make it difficult, if not impossible, to (as of today most remote sensing re-use ground samples on new im- images remain unused, and the lack Swiss Principal Investigator age acquisition, reducing strongly the of field campaign data is one of the generalization of image classification reasons, among others). D. Tuia (MMRS) algorithms. As a consequence, one should provide ground samples for • Offer a multimodal (multi-temporal, Co-Investigators each image or resort to unsupervised multi-resolution and multi-sensor) methodologies, which are known to solution to timely applications G. Camps-Valls be less accurate in remote sens- such as post-catastrophe inter- (Univ. València) ing image classification. With such vention, where analysts are often constraints, advanced classification forced to perform manual damage M. Volpi (MMRS) algorithms have difficulties in entering detection, since they lack the im- the applications world. age from the right sensor at the D. Marcos (MMRS) right time. This project develops methodolo- Method gies derived from statistical learn- • Obtain more accurate classifica- ing, which aims at making the im- tion models, since the proposed Simulation ages more similar with respect to the methodology allows the use of types of land use they are observing. more ground data simultaneously Development of Software for In other words, they modify (match, and works irrespectively from the register) the spectral space in a way classifier employed after the rela- Open source software. that a given type of crop, or a given tive data normalization.

64 Earth Observation, Remote Sensing

Status Publications

Linear and nonlinear normalization 1. Tuia, D., M. Volpi, M. Trolliet, methods have been developed in and G. Camps-Valls, (2014), MMRS, and have been applied to Semisupervised manifold align- the tasks of multi-temporal very-high ment of multimodal remote sens- resolution classification, automatic ing images, IEEE Trans. Geosci. shadow compensation on hyper- Remote Sens., 52(12), 7708 – 7720. spectral images and multi-sensor classification (QuickBird to WorldView 2. Marcos Gonzalez, D., R. Hamid, 2 and RGB to FCIR aerial data). and D. Tuia, (2016), Geospatial cor- respondence for heterogeneous In all cases, the method was suc- domain adaptation, In Computer cessful in the relative data normal- Vision and Pattern Recognition ization and allowed the use of the (CVPR), Las Vegas, NV. ground reference to process the newly acquired images. 3. Tuia, D. and G. Camps-Valls, (2016), Kernel manifold alignment for domain adaptation, PLoS One, 11(2):e0148655.

Abbreviations

FCIR False Color Infra Red MMRS MultiModal Remote Sensing RGB Red green blue UZH University of Zurich

WorldView II space (8 bands) Joint latent space QuickBird space (4 bands)

Projection QUIRED QUIRED C C A A

NTHESIZED Inversion / synthesis S Y

Illustration of the relative normalization strategy pursued in this project. In this example, a QuickBird image of Houston is aligned with a WorldView 2 image of another area of the city. The images are acquired at different time instants, by different sensors and represent non-overlapping areas.

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8 Comets, Planets

8.1 ROSINA – Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis

Purpose of Research Churyumov-Gerasimenko are most likely not the major source of the wa- In Summer 2014, the European ter on Earth (Altwegg et al., 2015). Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft ROSINA has furthermore detected, arrived at comet 67P/Churyumov- for the first time in comets, molecular Gerasimenko. Since then the Rosetta oxygen (Bieler et al., 2015a), molecu- Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and lar nitrogen (Rubin et al., 2015), and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) has been the noble gas argon (Balsiger et al., continuously monitoring the gases 2015) directly in the coma of a comet. Landing of the Philae probe on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. emanating from the nucleus. ROSINA These investigations are important to consists of two mass spectrometers constrain models of how our Solar Institute and a pressure sensor that together System formed, including the origin have a high mass range, mass reso- of volatiles in the atmosphere of the Institute of Physics, lution, sensitivity, and time resolution Earth (Marty et al., 2016). Univ. Bern (UNIBE) (Balsiger et al., 2007). ROSINA data also show that the coma In Cooperation with ROSINA measures the elemental, of the comet is remarkably diverse molecular, and isotopic composition even far from the Sun, and contains ESA of the volatiles in the coma of the com- almost all volatiles detected in comets MPS et. These are crucial measurements so far (Le Roy et al., 2015). The com- TUB used to improve our understanding position of the gases varies strongly BIRA of comets, and the conditions at the with the illumination conditions on the CESR time when they, and our Solar System nucleus and therefore the comet’s at- IPSL formed. This is particularly the case mosphere exhibits strong seasonal LMM for comets which have remained far variations, depending on whether the UMich from the Sun for most of the time spacecraft crosses over the summer SwRI and therefore retained most of their or the winter hemisphere (Bieler et al., volatiles as opposed to meteorites. 2015b; Hässig et al., 2015). Principal Investigator Status Future Observations K. Altwegg (UNIBE) Already early in the mission, the ROSINA investigations will carry on Co-Investigators ROSINA team was able to derive up until the end of the mission in the deuterium to hydrogen ra- September 2016 when the Rosetta H. Balsiger tio in the cometary water. It is ap- orbiter will smoothly land on the sur- A. Jäckel proximately 3 times the ratio of the face of the nucleus almost two years E. Kopp water in the Earth’s oceans, indi- after the lander Philae in November M. Rubin cating that comets such as 67P/ 2014. P. Wu r z Abbreviations Method ROSINA Rosetta Orbiter Sensor for Ion and Neutral Analysis Measurement Time-Line From To Industrial Hardware Contract to Planning 1995 1996 Construction 1996 2002 Contraves (Ruag) Space Measurement Phase launch 2004, flyby’s 2008 & 2010 APCO Comet phase 2014 2016 Montena etc. Data Evaluation 2014 ongoing

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Publications

1. Balsiger, H. et al., (2007), 6. Hässig, M. et al., (2015), Time ROSINA – Rosetta Orbiter Spectro- variability and heterogeneity in meter for Ion and Neutral Analysis, the coma of 67P/Churyumov- Space Sci. Revs., 128, 745 – 801. Gerasimenko, Science, 347, aaa0276. 2. Altwegg, K. et al., (2015), 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a 7. Le Roy, L. et al., (2015), Inventory family comet with a high of the volatiles on comet 67P/ D/H ratio, Science, 347, 1261952. Churyumov-Gerasimenko from Rosetta/ROSINA. A & A., 583, 3. Balsiger, H. et al., (2015), Detection A1 (12). of argon in the coma of comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Sci. 8. Rubin, M. et al., (2015), Molecular Adv., 1, e1500377. nitrogen in comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko indicates a low for- 4. Bieler, A. et al., (2015a), Abundant mation temperature, Science, 348, molecular oxygen in the coma 232 – 235. of comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko, Nature, 526, 9. Marty, B. et al., (2016), Origins of 678 – 681. volatile elements (H, C, N, noble gases) on Earth and in light of 5. Bieler, A. et al, (2015b), 3D kinetic recent results from the ROSETTA and hydrodynamic modeling of the cometary mission, Earth Planet. neutral coma of 67P/Churyumov- Sci. Lett., 441, 91 – 102. Gerasimenko, A & A.

ROSINA instrument suite showing the Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer (DFMS), the Reflectron Time-Of-Flight mass spectrometer (RTOF) and the Cometary Pressure Sensor (COPS; Balsiger et al., 2007).

67 Comets, Planets

8.2 Seismometer Instrument for NASA InSight Mission

Purpose of Research will provide essential clues about the evolution of not just Mars, but The SEIS instrument (Seismic also all the terrestrial planets. The Experiment for Interior Structure) on- mission is under the lead of NASA's board the NASA Mars mission InSight Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in (Interior exploration using Seismology, Pasadena, USA, and the SEIS in- Geodesy, and Heat Transfer) will ad- strument is under the lead of CNES vance the planetary seismometry be- (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) yond the Viking experiments with a in Toulouse, France. much higher sensitivity over a broader SEIS sensor assembly during integration at CNES. frequency band. SEIS will measure The SEIS instrument consists of two seismic waves traveling through the 3-axial sensor assemblies mounted interior structure and composition of on a leveling mechanism: a 3-axis very the planet Mars. The science objec- broad-band (VBB) oblique seismom- tives are defined as follows: eter, and an independent 3-axis short period (SP) seismometer. In addition, it 1. Understand the formation and evo- comprises a wind-shield and acquisi- lution of the terrestrial planets through tion and control electronics. The Inst. investigation of the interior structure Geophysics, ETH Zurich is in charge of: Institute and processes of Mars. • The electronics box, which consists Inst. Geophysics, • Determine the size, composition, of all electronics including the mod- ETH Zurich (ETHZ) physical state (liquid/solid) of the core. ules of the partners.

In Cooperation with • Determine the thickness and struc- • The provision of the acquisition ture of the crust. and control electronics, which con- Inst. Physique du Globe, tinuously acquires the seismic sensor Paris, France • Determine the composition and ouputs and a set of house-keeping structure of the mantle. signals, which controls the leveling- mechanism of the instrumentas well Imperial College, 2. Determine the present level of tec- as the sensor configuration and London, England tonic activity and impact rate at Mars. re-centering.

• Measure the magnitude, rate and • The power-conditioning electronics MPS, Göttingen, geographical distribution of internal for the whole instrument. Germany seismic activity. The SEIS acquisition and control • Measure the rate of meteorite im- electronics are redundantly built as Jet Propulsion Lab., pacts on the surface. SEIS is the InSight core instrument, Pasadena, USA providing most of the scientific re- The InSight Lander will carry three turn, and is therefore mission criti- Principal Investigator instruments to the surface of Mars cal. It is built by Syderal SA, and has to take the first-ever in-depth look at been delivered to CNES in Toulouse P. Lognonné the planet's 'vital stats': its pulse, or for SEIS instrument integration. The (Inst. Physique du Globe, Paris) internal activity, as measured by the Swiss Seismological Service at ETH SEIS instrument; its temperature as Zurich will take the lead role in build- Swiss Principal Investigator measured by the HP3 instrument; ing a catalogue of seismic events and its reflexes as measured by the recorded by SEIS (the "Mars Quake D. Giardini (ETHZ) RISE instrument. Together, the data Service") during the mission. This

68 Comets, Planets

service will comprise automatic and Simu-SEIS is used to validate FSW Co-Investigators reviewed event detection and char- with respect to certain instrument pro- acterization of local and teleseismic cesses (re-centering of the sensors, J. Clinton events, as well as impacts. leveling of the sensors). In view of the D. Mance The goal of this service is to provide new 2018 launch window, replanning P. Zweifel a comprehensive high-quality event and risk assessment activities are on- catalogue for Mars that is critical to going, and in addition some improve- Method the SEIS project, in particular as input ments are being considered. JPL will to the development of deep redesign, build and conduct qualifi- Measurement structure models. Furthermore, the cations of the new SEIS vacuum en- Institute of Geophysics has an active closure, the component that failed in Development and research team engaged in modelling December. CNES will lead instrument Construction of Instruments planetary structure. level integration and test activities. The ETHZ instrument team will support the Electronics box, including instrument Status integration activities with its expertise power conditiong and acquisition and on the electronics functionalities and control electronics for the SEIS in- The InSight mission was selected performance. strument onboard of NASA's InSight by NASA in 2012 in the frame of the mission. NASA Discovery Program. The original Publications launch date was 4 March 2016 but Industrial Hardware Contract to unfortunately could not be kept be- 1. Dandonneau, P-A. et al., (2013), cause of a persisting technical prob- The SEIS InSight VBB Experiment, Syderal SA, Gals lem with the vacuum enclosure of the 44th Lunar and Planetary Sci. Conf. VBB seismic sensor, which could not be fixed after several attempts. InSight 2. Böse, M., et al., (2016), A probabi- is now targeting a new launch window listic framework for single-station from May 2018 onwards, with a Mars location of seismicity on Earth and landing scheduled for 26 November Mars (to be submitted GJI). 2018. Under a challenging schedule, the Swiss contribution (the electronics 3. Khan, A., et al., (2016), Single- box flight hardware) was delivered in station and single-event mars- March 2015 to CNES for further in- quake location and inversion for strument integration. Apart from the structure using synthetic Martian flight electronics, a qualification model waveforms (submitted to PEPI). (QM), an electrical model (ELM) and a hardware simulator (Simu-SEIS) Abbreviations were delivered to CNES and JPL/ Lockheed Martin. The ELM is used ATLO Assembly, Test and in the Spacecraft Test Lab for flight Launch Operations software (FSW) validation. The QM ELM Electrical Model was integrated on the lander in order FSW Flight Software to support the Assembly, Test and QM Qualification Model Launch Operations (ATLO) process. SEIS Seismic Exp. Interior Struct. The Electronics Box was designed and built by Syderal SA in Gals. The picture shows the qualification model without Time-Line From To cabling. The connections on top and on the side are towards Planning 2010 2012 the various sub-systems and sensors and to the lander Construction Sep. 2012 Mar. 2015 units (power and communication). The shape of the Ebox Measurement Phase Nov. 2018 Oct. 2020 is predetermined by the available triangular footprint in the Data Evaluation Nov. 2018 > 2020 lander’s heated compartment.

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8.3 Investigation of the Chemical Composition of Lunar Soils (Luna-Glob and Luna-Resurs Missions)

Purpose of Research Publications

The Russian Space Agency will 1. Rohner, U., J. Whitby, P. Wurz, launch two landers to land on the and S. Barabash, (2004), A highly lunar South and North Poles, Luna- miniaturised laser ablation time- Glob and Luna-Resurs. of-flight mass spectrometer for planetary rover, Rev. Sci. Instr., LASMA, a laser ablation mass spec- 75(5), 1314 – 1322. LASMA Engineering Model. trometer, which is part of the scien- tific payload of both landers, will per- 2. Wurz, P., D. Abplanalp, M. Tulej, Institute form direct elemental analysis of soil M. Iakovleva, V. A. Fernandes, A. samples collected in the vicinity of Chumikov, and G. Managadze, Space Research and Planetology, the spacecraft landing site and from (2012), Mass spectrometric analysis Physics Inst., Univ. Bern (UNIBE) the sub-surface (Luna-Resurs only). in planetary science: Investigation Elemental and isotopic analysis will of the surface and the atmosphere, In Cooperation with be performed on 12 soil samples. . Sys. Res., 46, 408 – 422.

Inst. Sp. Res., IKI, Moscow, Russia, 3. Tulej, M., A. Riedo, M. B. Neuland, (G. Managadze, A. Chumikov) Status S. Meyer, D. Lasi, D. Piazza, N. Thomas, and P. Wurz, (2014), A Principal Investigators Spacecraft and scientific instru- miniature instrument suite for in situ ments are currently under develop- investigation of the composition G. Managadze ment. Launch of Luna-Glob is forseen and morphology of extraterrestrial P. Wurz (Co-PI, UNIBE) for mid–2019, and Luna-Resurs will materials, Geostand. Geoanalyt. launch in 2022. Instrument develop- Res., 38, 441 – 466. Swiss Principal Investigator ment is ongoing.

P. Wurz (UNIBE) The LASMA instrument is a further development of the LASMA instru- Co-Investigator ment that was part of the – Grunt mission. M. Tulej

Method Abbreviations

Measurement LASMA Laser Ablation Mass Spectrometer

Development and Construction of Instruments

Laser ablation mass spectrometer, LASMA, for direct measurements of el- emental composition of solid materials.

Industrial Hardware Contract to Time-Line From To Planning Sep. 2010 Feb. 2011 WaveLab Engineering AG Construction Mar. 2011 Sep. 2015 Montena Technology SA Measurement Phase 2019 2022 nanoTRONIC GmbH Data Evaluation 2019 2024

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8.4 Investigation of the Volatiles Contained in Lunar Soils (Luna-Resurs Mission)

Purpose of Research Publications

The Russian Space Agency will launch 1. Abplanalp, D., P. Wurz, L. Huber, a lunar lander to land on the lunar I. Leya, E. Kopp, U. Rohner, M. South Pole, Luna-Resurs. The gas- Wieser, L. Kalla, and S. Barabash, chromatography mass spectrometer (2009), A neutral gas mass spec- complex, GC-MS, which is part of the trometer to measure the chemical scientific payload of this lander, will composition of the stratosphere, NGMS Engineering Model for Luna-Resurs. perform detailed investigations of the Adv. Space Res., 44, 870 – 878. volatile content of soil samples col- Institute lected in the vicinity of the spacecraft 2. Wurz, P., D. Abplanalp, M. Tulej, landing site and from the sub-surface and H. Lammer, (2012), A neutral Space Research and Planetology by means of a drill. gas mass spectrometer for the in- Inst. Physics, Univ. Bern (UNIBE) vestigation of lunar volatiles, Planet. The GC-MS consists of a thermal Sp. Science, 74, 264 – 269. In Cooperation with differential analyser, a gas chro- matograph and a Neutral Gas Mass 3. Hofer, L., P. Wurz, A. Buch, M. Inst. Sp. Res., IKI, Moscow, Russia, Spectrometer (NGMS), which is pro- Cabane, P. Coll, D. Coscia, M. (M. Gerasimov, A. Sapgir, D. Rodinov) vided by the University of Bern. Gerasimov, D. Lasi, A. Sapgir, Univ. Pierre, Marie , Paris, France C. Szopa, and M. Tulej, (2015), (M. Cabane, D. Coscia) Prototype of the gas chromato- Status graph – mass spectrometer to Principal Investigators investigate volatile species in the Spacecraft and scientific instruments lunar soil for the Luna-Resurs mis- M. Gerasimov, P. Wurz (UNIBE) are currently under development. sion, Plant. Sp. Sci., 111, 126 – 133. Launch of Luna-Resurs is forseen Swiss Principal Investigator for 2022. Instrument development is ongoing. The NGMS is based on an P. Wurz (UNIBE) ealier design used for stratospheric research. Co-Investigators

M. Tulej, L. Hofer

Abbreviations Method

NGMS Neutral Gas Mass Spectrometer Measurement

Development and Construction of Instruments

NGMS to measure the chemical com- position of volatiles.

Industrial Hardware Contract to Time-Line From To Planning Sep. 2010 Jun. 2011 EMPA Construction Jul. 2011 Jun. 2017 WaveLab Engineering AG Measurement Phase 2022 2022 nanoTRONIC GmbH Data Evaluation 2022 2024 Montena Technology SA

71 Comets, Planets

8.5 CaSSIS – The Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

Purpose of Research The discovery of methane has helped stimulate exploration plans in Europe CaSSIS has three main science and the U.S. A portion of NE Syrtis objectives. Major has recently been approved for priority MRO coverage as a candi- 1. Image and analyse surface features date landing site for the Mars Science possibly related to gas sources Laboratory; this site is at the margin of CaSSIS Flight Model and sinks in order to better under- the Syrtis Major methane plume . It is stand the broad range of processes likely that the pair of NASA/ESA land- that might be related to trace gases. ers in 2021 will also consider methane areas for landing sites. The science team will compile and prioritize a list of observation targets At the workshop ‘Habitability and needed to test specific hypotheses Landing Sites’ the surfaces asso- concerning active surface processes ciated with methane plumes were Institute on Mars. This objective will be ad- identified as high priority exploration dressed early on in the mission, prior targets. However, the best locations Space Research and Planetology, to new trace-gas discoveries from the will presumably be found by EMTGO, Inst. Physics, Univ. Bern (UNIBE) ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (EMTGO). and MRO/HiRISE may or may not Unusual or changing colours indicate be able to certify new landing sites In Cooperation with active processes, perhaps linked to post 2017. Although CaSSIS cannot methane formation or release. identify meter-scale hazards, it can Astr, Obs., Padova, Italy provide the 5 m scale slope informa- Sp. Res. Center, Warsaw, Poland 2. Map regions of trace gas origin as tion needed to complete certification determined by other experiments to of thousands of locations imaged by Swiss Principal Investigator test hypotheses. HiRISE, but not in .

N. Thomas (UNIBE) EMTGO experiments are designed Status to discover trace gases and study Co-Investigators atmospheric dynamics to track the CaSSIS was delivered in Nov. 2015 gases back to their source regions and EMTGO launched on 14 March 26 scientists from (perhaps tens of km). Once these 2016. Currently awaiting switch-on. Europe and the US discoveries are made (if that goal is realized), CaSSIS will place top priority Abbreviations Method on imaging these regions to formulate and test specific hypotheses for the CaSSIS The Colour and Stereo Surface Measurement origin and/or release of trace gases. Imaging System EMTGO ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter Development and 3. Search for and help certify the HiRISE High Resolution Imaging Construction of Instruments safety of new candidate landing sites Science Experiment driven by EMTGO discoveries. MRO Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Construction of the high resolution imager for the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter launched on 14 March 2016. Time-Line From To Planning Aug. 2010 Oct. 2013 Industrial Hardware Contract to Construction Oct. 2013 Nov. 2015 Measurement Phase Apr. 2016 Dec. 2019 RUAG Space, Zurich Data Evaluation Jun. 2017 Dec. 2020

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8.6 BepiColombo

Composition of Crust, Exosphere, Surface Evolution, Formation and Evolution of Planet Mercury

Purpose of Research The Univ. Bern is participating in two instruments: 1) SERENA on the ESA has defined the Cornerstone BepiColombo/MPO spacecraft, for Mission, named BepiColombo, for the which Bern provides substantial hard- detailed exploration of planet Mercury. ware for the STROFIO mass spec- Because of observational difficulties trometer and for the MIPA ion sen- ,Mercury is a largely unknown planet sor, and 2) The MPPE package on and therefore a high scientific return the BepiColombo/MMO spacecraft, The STROFIO instrument (part of SERENA experiment) on BepiColombo. is expected from such an exploratory for which Bern provides substantial mission. The launch of BepiColombo hardware for the ENA instrument. Institute is foreseen in April 2018 and the trans- fer to Mercury will take until 2022. Thus Status Space Research and Planetology the dataphase will start in December Inst. Physics, Univ. Bern (UNIBE) 2024 at the earliest, and will last for The BepiColombo spacecraft are one year with a possible extension currently under development with a In Cooperation with of another. launch scheduled for 2018. Scientitifc instruments were delivered for integra- Inst. Fisica Sp. Interpl., Rome, Italy The University of Bern is participating tion on the spacecraft in Autumn 2014. (S. Orsini, A. Milillo) in the BepiColombo mission, as part Swed. Sp. Res. Inst., Kiruna, of an international collaboration, by Publications (S. Barabash, M. Wieser) developing two mass spectrometers. SwRI, San Antonio, USA, (S. Livi) The first mass spectrometer is on 1. Wurz P. and H. Lammer, (2003), the BepiColombo/MMO spacecraft Monte-Carlo simulation of Mercury’s Principal Investigators to perform Energetic Neutral Atom exosphere, Icarus, 164(1), 1 – 13. (ENA) imaging of the space around S. Orsini Mercury. The second instrument 2. Wurz, P. et al., (2010), Self-consistent S. Barabash will go on the BepiColombo/MPO modelling of Mercury's exosphere by spacecraft to measure the elemental, sputtering, micro-meteorite impact Swiss Principal Investigator chemical, and isotopic composition and photon-stimulated desorption, of Mercury’s exosphere with a sensi- Planet. Sp. Sci., 58, 1599 – 1616. P. Wurz (UNIBE) tive neutral gas mass spectrometer. These two instruments will make a 3. Pfleger, M. et al., (2015), 3D-modeling Co-Investigator substantial contribution to three out of Mercury's solar wind sputtered of the six main scientific goals set for surface-exosphere environment, A. Vorburger BepiColombo. Planet. Sp. Sci., 115, 90 – 101. Method

Abbreviations Measurement

ENA Energetic Neutral Atom MIPA Mini. Ion Precip. Analyz. Development and MMO Mercury Magnetosph. Orb. MPO Mercury Plan. Orbiter Construction of Instruments MPPE Mercury Plasma Particle Exp. SERENA Search Exopheric Refilling and Emitted Natural Abundances SERENA and MPPE instruments STROFIO Start from a Rotating FIeld mass spectrOmeter Industrial Hardware Contract to Time-Line From To Measurement Phase 2024 2026 EMPA, Rekolas, Sulzer Innotec, Data Evaluation 2024 2030 SWSTech AG

73 Comets, Planets

8.7 BELA – BepiColombo Laser Altimeter

Purpose of Research network will provide the coordinate system for any detailed exploration of BepiColombo laser altimeter (BELA) the surface with respect to geologi- is a joint Swiss-German project with cal, physical, and chemical scientific a smaller involvement from Spain. The questions. scientific objectives of the experiment are to measure the: The topography is needed to de- velop digital terrain models that al- • Figure parameters of Mercury low quantitative explorations of the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA). to establish accurate reference geology, the tectonics, and the age surfaces. of the planet surface. The topogra- phy is further needed for a reduc- Institute • Topographic variations relative to tion of the gravity field data because the reference figures and a geo- topographical contributions to gravity Space Research and Planetology, detic network based on accurately must first be removed before using Inst. Physics, Univ. Bern (UNIBE) measured positions of prominent gravity anomalies for the investigation topographic features. of sub-surface structures. In Cooperation with • Tidal deformations of the surface. The use of topography together with DLR Institute for Planetary gravity data will constrain, by an ad- Research (DLR), Berlin, Germany • Surface roughness, local slopes mittance analysis between the two and albedo variations, also in per- and with the help of a lithosphere MPS, Göttingen, Germany manently shaded craters near the flexure model, lithosphere and crust poles. properties. Examples here would IAA, Granada, Spain include the lithosphere elastic thick- BELA will form an part of a ness (essential for the reconstruction Principal Investigators larger geodesy and geophysics pack- of the thermal history of Mercury) and age, incorporating science and the crustal density (essential for the N. Thomas (Co-PI, UNIBE) stereo imaging. Although stand-alone construction of a Hermean internal T. Spohn (Co-PI) instruments in their own right, only the model). synergy between these will make full Swiss Principal Investigator use of current technology and their In addition to the moments of inertia scientific potential. which will be provided by the radio N. Thomas (UNIBE) science experiment, the tidal defor- The synergy will cover the problems mations measured by BELA and the Co-Investigators of planetary figure and gravity field radio science instrument will place determination, interior structure ex- further constraints on global models 30 leading geophysicists from Europe ploration, surface morphology and of the interior structure. geology, and extend to the mea- Method surement of tidal deformations. The BELA will contribute by providing the reference surfaces and the geodetic deformation of the surface while the Measurement

Industrial Hardware Contract to Time-Line From To RUAG Space, Syderal Planning 2004 2008 FISBA Optik, Construction 2008 2016 Cassidian Optronik, Germany, Measurement Phase 2024 2026 CRISA, Spain Data Evaluation 2024 2028

74 Comets, Planets

radio science package will measure Status the mass relocations. Under favour- able conditions, it will even be pos- The EM, STM and EQM programmes sible to constrain the rheology of the have been completed. Construction interior of the planet by measuring of the Flight Model is in progress. the time lag between the motion of the tidal bulge and the disturbing Publications potential. 1. Seiferlin, K., et al., (2007), Design and The instrument (see Figure) comprises manufacture of a lightweight reflec- a transmitter producing a 50 mJ laser tive baffle for the BepiColombo laser pulse at 1064 nm. The laser passes altimeter, Opt. Eng., 46(4), 043003-1. through a beam expander to collimate the beam before exiting to the planet 2. Thomas, N., et al., (2007), The through a baffle. The return pulse is BepiColombo Laser Altimeter captured by a 20 cm beryllium tele- (BELA): Concept and baseline de- scope which is protected by a novel sign, Planet. Sp. Sci., 55, 1398 – 1413. reflective baffle. 3. Gunderson, K. and N. Thomas, (2010), The light then passes through a trans- BELA receiver performance model- fer optic containing a 1064 nm filter ing over the BepiColombo mission before collection on an avalanche lifetime, Planet. Sp. Sci., 58, 309 – 318. photodiode detector. Conversion to a range is performed using time-of- Abbreviations flight electronics within an electronics box which also houses the instrument BELA BepiColombo Laser Altimeter computer and power supply. EQM Engineering Qualification Model STM Structural Thermal Model

The BELA EQM instrument in the thermal vacuum chamber at the University of Bern. To the top, the beryllium telescope structure can be seen mounted to the optical bench (an aluminium honeycomb). In the fore- ground, the laser head box is mounted to the same optical bench. The electronics unit specifically for the laser electronics is to the lower right. The necessary baffles for the telescope and the laser are not mounted in this configuration.

75 Comets, Planets

8.8 PEP – Particle Environment Package on JUICE

Purpose of Research Publications

The European Space Agency select- 1. Vorburger, J. A., et al., (2015), ed the JUICE mission as an L – class Monte-Carlo simulation of Callisto's mission to explore Jupiter and its icy exosphere, Icarus, 262, 14–29. in great detail, with particular emphasis on the moon Ganymede. 2. Wurz, P., et al., (2014), Measurement The Particle Environment Package of the atmospheres of Europa, NIM prototype stored in transport container. (PEP) investigates all particle popula- Ganymede, and Callisto, European tions in Jupiter's magnetosphere and Planetary Science Congress 2014, at its moons in the energy range from EPSC Vol. 9, id. EPSC2014-504. Institute thermal energies to beyond MeV.

Space Research and Planetology, The Neutral and Ion Mass spectrometer Abbreviations inst. Physics, Univ. Bern (UNIBE) (NIM) will measure the chemical com- position of the neutral atmospheres of JUICE Jupiter and Icy Moons Explorer In Cooperation with the icy moons and their thermal ion NIM Neutral and Ion Mass population. JUICE is scheduled for Spectrometer Swedish Space Research Institute, launch in May 2022 and will arrive in PEP Particle Environment Package (SSRI), Kiruna, Sweden the Jupiter system in 2030. Appl. Phys. Lab., John Hopkins Univ. Laurel, USA MPS, Göttingen, Germany Status FMI, Helsinki, Finland Univ. Wales, Aberystwyth, The JUICE mission is currently in the Wales, UK implementation phase. The JUICE mission was adopted by ESA in Principal Investigators November 2014, and the industrial prime was selected in July 2015. PEP S. Barabash (SSRI) is one of the 10 selected science ex- P. Wurz (Co-PI, UNIBE) periments for the JUICE missions.

Swiss Principal Investigator The Swedish Institute for Space Physics is the PI institution, while the P. Wurz (UNIBE) University of Bern is the Co-PI insti- tution for this experiment. The PEP Co-Investigators experiment and the NIM instrument development are ongoing. A. Galli N. Thomas M. Tulek A. Vorburger

Method

Measurement Time-Line From To Development and Planning Oct. 2012 Feb. 2014 Construction of Instruments Construction Mar. 2014 Jun. 2021 Measurement Phase Jan. 2030 Jul. 2033 NIM instr. for PEP experiment. Data Evaluation 2030 2036

76 Comets, Planets

8.9 SWI – Submillimeter Wave Instrument on JUICE

Purpose of Research Status

The JUpiter ICy moons Explorer The SWI instrument is currently in (JUICE) is an L-class mission of the Phase B2 with a Preliminary Design ESA Cosmic Vision 2015 – 2025 pro- Review (PDR) date in October 2016. gram to investigate Jupiter and its The JUICE mission is scheduled for Galilean satellites as planetary bodies launch in 2022. and potential habitats for life. SWI for the ESA JUICE mission.

The Submillimeter Wave Instrument Publications (SWI) on JUICE will study the chemi- Institute cal composition, wind speeds and 1. Jacob, K., A. Murk, H. Kim, P. temperature variability of Jupiter's Sobis, A. Emrich, V. Drakinskiy, Inst. Appl. Phys., atmosphere, as well as the exo- J. Stake, A. Maestrini, J. Treuttel, F. Univ. Bern (UNIBE) sphere and surface properties of its Tamazouzt, B. Thomas, M. Philipp, icy moons. P. Hartogh, (2015), Characterization In Cooperation with of the 530 GHz to 625 GHz SWI SWI consists of two heterodyne re- receiver unit for the Jupiter Mission MPS, Göttingen, Germany ceivers tuneable between 530 – 630 JUICE, in: Proceedings of the Omnisys Instruments, Sweden GHz and 1080 – 1280 GHz. It includes 35th ESA Antenna Workshop on LERMA, France different high resolution and broad- Antennas and RF Systems for RPG, Germany band spectrometers, and a steer- Space Science. NICT, Japan able off-axis telescope with a 30 cm CBK, Poland aperture. Principal Investigator The Institute of Applied Physics is Abbreviations responsible for the optical design P. Hartogh (MPS) of the instrument, for the develop- PDR Preliminary Design Review ment of the optical components in JUICE Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer Swiss Principal Investigator the receiver unit, and for the onboard SWI Submillimeter Wave calibration target. In addition IAP is Instrument A. Murk (UNIBE) conducting the radiometric perfor- mance tests of the SWI Receiver Unit Co-Investigators and planar near-field antenna mea- surements of the telescope. H. Kim, M. Kotiranta

Method

Measurement

Development and Construction of Instruments

Optics and receiver unit for the SWI Time-Line From To instrument on JUICE. Planning 2010 2012 Construction 2013 2017 Industrial Hardware Contract to Measurement Phase 2015 2019 Data Evaluation 2015 2019 Micos Engineering

77 Comets, Planets

8.10 CLUPI – CLose-Up Imager for ExoMars Rover 2020

Purpose of Research a flexible amount of data and to in- crease the scientific return. A calibra- CLUPI, part of the Payload tion target is used to colour calibrate onboard the ESA ExoMars Rover images during science operations. 2020, is a powerful high-resolution CLUPI CAD design. colour camera. It is designed for CLUPI will be housed on the rover close-up observations, to obtain vi- drill box, and use mirrors to observe sual information similar to that from with three different fields-of-view. a geologists hand lens. CLUPI will carry out specific science operations: The two main scientific objectives are: • Geological environment survey for • Geological context for establish- the area immediately in front of Institute ing habitability: the rover.

Space Exploration Institute (SEI), 1) Identification of the lithologies, • Close-up observation of outcrops Neuchâtel to: 1) obtain geological informa- 2) identification of eventual tion on rock texture and structure, In Cooperation with structures/textures (primary or possible alterations, etc., 2) allow secondary alteration features ) the geological history of targets F. Westall that could provide information to to be established, and 3) ap- (Co-PI; CNRS, Orléans) interpret habitability. prase the potential preservation of biosignatures. B. A. Hofmann • Identification of biosignatures: (Co-PI; NHM, Bern) • Drilling area observation. 1) Observation of structural Principal Investigator features, and • Drilling operation observation: 1) to monitor the process, 2) observe J.-L. Josset (SEI) 2) observation of carbon (EXM the generated mound of fines with looking for carbonaceous biosig- potential colour and textural varia- Co-Investigators natures) concentrations. tions, and 3) to obtain information on the mechanical properties of A. Souchon, M. Josset (Co-I; SEI), CLUPI is a miniaturized, low-power, the soil. T. Bontognali, (ETHZ, GI Zurich) efficient, and highly adaptive imaging system with a mass under 1 kg. It • Drill hole observation (with depos- K. Foelmi, E. Verreccia, S. Erkman has specific micro-technical innova- ited fines). (Univ. Lausanne) tions regarding its sensor and focus mechanism. • Drilled core sample observation L. Diamond collected by the drill up to 2 m (IGS, Univ. Bern) The imager can focus from ~10 cm below the . to infinity (~16 µm per pixel at 20 cm and 14 other scientists from from the target), where colour im- Status Canada, France, Germany, Austria, aging is achieved using a detector The Netherlands, Belgium, United with three layers of pixels (red, green, CLUPI had a successful Preliminary Kingdom, Italy, and Russia. and blue). CLUPI can also perform Design Review (PDR) in Dec. 2015. auto-exposure, auto-focus, binning, It is currently in phase C/D of its Method windowing, and z-stacking, to send development.

Measurement

78 Comets, Planets

Publications

1. Josset, J.-L. et al., (2016), The 2. Payler, S. J. et al., (2016), Close-Up Imager (CLUPI) on- Planetary science and exploration board the ESA ExoMars Rover: in the deep subsurface: Results Objectives, description, opera- from the MINAR program, Int. J. tions, and science validation ac- Astrobiol., accepted. tivities, Astrobiology, submitted.

ExoMars Rover 2020.

Abbreviations Development and Construction of Instruments CLUPI CLose-Up Imager PDR Preliminary Design Review Imaging instrument for colour close- up observation of Martian rocks, sur- faces, and samples.

Industrial Hardware Contract to

Time-Line From To Ruag Space Planning 2003 2010 CSEM Construction 2011 2018 Fisba Optik AG Measurement Phase 2021 2022 Petitpierre SA Data Evaluation 2021 2024 e2V (funded by CNES)

79 Life Science

9 Life Science

9.1 Yeast Bioreactor Experiment

Network biology of stress responses and cell flocculation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown in a continuous bioreactor under microgravity conditions.

Institute Purpose of Research influences global regulation of energy metabolism, (stress) signaling transduc- Lucerne Univ. of Applied Sciences The project is focused on the effect of tion pathways, transcriptional regulatory and Arts (HSLU), Centre of microgravity on the physiology of S. networks, gene regulatory networks, Competence in Aerospace Biomed. cerevisiae. Studies have shown that mi- protein-protein interaction networks, Sci. & Tech. Hergiswil crogravity results in a disturbed physi- and metabolic networks. ology, derived from experiments in a In Cooperation with rotating wall vessel suspension culture Yeast cultivation will be performed in a (modeled microgravity). The expression specifically designed continuous biore- Vrije Universiteit, Brussel, of a significant number of genes (1372) actor. The use of a continuous cultiva- Lab. Structural Biology, Brussels, was changed when yeast cells were tion mode (chemostat) gives defined Dept. Bioengineering Sciences, cultured for 5 generations or 25 genera- and controlled conditions over time Brussels, Belgium tions in a simulated microgravity envi- (i.e. growth at one specific growth rate) ronment. The relevance of gravity on permitting the repetition of an experi- Univ. Gent, S. cerevisiae cell-cell and cell-surface ment, without having different starting Lab. Protein Biochemistry and interactions is best shown by the fact conditions except for the elapsed mi- Biomolecular Engineering, that S. cerevisiae cells grow in clusters crogravity time. The hardware will moni- (L-Probe), Gent, Belgium in microgravity conditions compared to tor and control growth parameters like cells grown on Earth. In addition, it was temperature, flow rate and monitor pH, KU Leuven & VIB, found that continuous cultivation of S. oxygen and carbon dioxide levels which Dept. Molecular Microbiology, cerevisiae in microgravity had an influ- are necessary to achieve a steady-state Lab. Molecular Cell Biology, ence on the bud scar positioning, a criti- and stable growth. Leuven, Belgium cal factor in cell adhesion and invasion. The samples will be automatically with- Principal Investigator In this experiment different S. cerevi- drawn, treated (shock), filtrated and siae strains will be used to investigate fixed. The fixation and treatment of all R. Willaert (Vrije Univ.) the effect of microgravity on non-in- samples will be performed inside sev- teracting and cell-cell interacting (floc- eral automatic investigation blocs (IB) Swiss Principal Investigator culation) yeast growth, and on induced which will be part of the BIOREACTOR stress responses by applying a heat infrastructure. The experiment hard- M. Egli (HSLU) and osmotic shock in microgravity. ware will finally have to fit inside an An integrative-experimental approach European Modular Cultivation System Co-Investigators will be used to assess the effect of mi- (EMCS) container. crogravity. Therefore, various -omics B. Devreese (Univ. Gent) technologies, i.e. fluxomics, transcrip- Status P. Van Dijck (KU Leuven & VIB) tomics, proteomics and genomics and D. Kauss (HSLU) specific cell analysis methods will be The project's status is a B phase used to study the samples. A network where scientific requirements for the Method biology model for S. cerevisiae will be hardware development are estab- set-up to process the -omics data. lished. The hardware is currently under Measurement This will lead to into how gravity construction by RUAG Space, Nyon.

Development and Time-Line From To Construction of Instruments Planning 2013 2013 Construction 2014 2018 Bioreactor for continuous Measurement Phase 2018 2018 cultivation of yeast. Data Evaluation 2018 2019

80 Life Science

9.2 SPHEROIDS

Purpose of Research time under microgravity conditions. SPHEROIDS has the dimensions 100 The SPHEROIDS project is focused x 100 x 100 mm, and consists of the on human endothelial cells. The goal following components (see figure): of this study is to investigate three- CC = Cultivation Chamber, MC = dimensional cell assembly under Medium Chamber, SC = Supernatant the condition of microgravity while Chamber, FC = Fixative Chamber and emphasizing proliferation, differen- V = Valve. tiation and induction of apoptosis (programmed cell death).

Extensive studies have been per- Status SPHEROIDS hardware manufactured by RUAG Space, Nyon. formed on cultured endothelial cells over the last few years using the The hardware for the SPHEROIDS Random Positioning Machine (RPM). experiment has been designed, de- These studies have shown that cul- veloped and built by RUAG Space, tured endothelial cells are highly Nyon. Institute sensitive to simulated hypogravity, which induced three-dimensional cell Lucerne Univ. of Applied Sciences aggregation, as well as up-regulation and Arts (HSLU), Centre of of several growth factors and of ex- Publications Competence in Aerospace Biom. tracellular matrix components. It also Sci. & Tech., Hergiswil, Switzerland initiated apoptosis in the EA.hy926 In preparation. human endothelial cell line. In Cooperation with

The flight experiment will enable the Univ. Aarhus, Dept. Biomed. & science team to distinguish the ef- Abbreviations Pharma., Aarhus, Denmark fects, which are caused by the RPM technique, from those which are due RPM Random Positioning Principal Investigator to the influence of real microgravity. Machine D. Gabriele Grimm The above figure illustrates the SPHEROIDS hardware which al- Swiss Principal Investigator lows the cultivation of mamma- lian cells for an extended period of M. Egli (HSLU)

Method

Measurement

Development and Construction of Instruments

Bioreactor for cultivating Time-Line From To human cells. Planning 2008 2012 Construction 2012 2016 Industrial Hardware Contract to Measurement Phase 2016 2016 Data Evaluation 2016 2017 RUAG Space, Nyon

81 Life Science

9.3 CEMIOS – Cellular Effects of Microgravity Induced Oocyte Samples

Purpose of Research silicone chip. A small aperture elec- trically isolates a patch of the cell The mechanisms how cells detect membrane. This membrane patch is external mechanical forces has not adjacent to a fluidic chip, allowing the been fully clarified yet. For instance, fast exchange of medium in contact mechano-sensitive ion channels are with the patch. By using particular thought to be of central importance in drugs, the ion channels of interest transducing physical forces into bio- can be pharmaceutically isolated. The logical responses. In this study, the conductivity across the patch under gating properties of mechano-sen- the different treatment protocols is CEMIOS experiment hardware mounted inside the sounding rocket sitive channels under various gravity then measured using a four electrode module. The hardware is designed to capture electrophysiological conditions are investigated with our voltage clamp. recordings of living cells under microgravity conditions. previously introduced "Ooclamp" device.

The device applies an adapted patch Status clamp technique that has proven to be functional even during parabolic With the REXUS 20 flight in March flights and on centrifugation up to 2016, we assessed for the first time 20 g. In the framework of the REXUS whether electrophysiological mea- Institute program, we have proposed to con- surements with Xenopus laevis oo- duct electrophysiological measure- cytes onboard a sounding rocket are Lucerne Univ. of Applied Sciences ments onboard a sounding rocket possible. The analysis of the data and Arts (HSLU), Centre of that provides a microgravity environ- gathered are still ongoing, but it is Competence in Aerospace Biomed. ment for up to 2 minutes. expected that a paper will soon be Sci. & Tech. Hergiswil, Switzerland published. The aim of the CEMIOS experiment In Cooperation with is to study possible adaptation pro- cesses of the mechano-sensitive Publications REXUS/BEXUS Education Program channels during the flight, based on modified gating properties in In preparation. Principal Investigator microgravity. In addition, the mea- surements will also demonstrate M. Egli (HSLU) the feasibility of conducting electro- Abbreviations physiological experiments onboard Co-Investigator sounding rockets. CEMIOS Cellular Effects of Microgravity Induced S. Wüest In order to determine the transmem- Oocyte Samples brane conductivity through the tar- REXUS/BEXUS Rocket and Balloon Method get ion channels, an oocyte from Experiments for University the Xenopus laevis is captured in a Students Measurement

Development and Construction of Instruments Time-Line From To Planning Dec. 2014 Jun. 2015 The entire hardware flown in this Construction Feb. 2015 Dec. 2016 experiment was developed and Measurement Phase Mar. 2016 Mar. 2016 assembeld in-house. Data Evaluation Mar. 2016 Jun. 2016

82 Swiss Space Industries Group

10 Swiss Space Industries Group

ESA, the Key Account None of this would be possible with- out Switzerland’s early commitment to The world is a stra- ESA, right from day one. ESA’s ambi- tegically important growth sector tious programmes enable Swiss space of high value-creating potential and companies to acquire the expertise that great economic importance. If Europe underpins its excellent reputation and is to compete globally and secure promising position in the global growth a leading position, the available re- market for space technology. sources must be efficiently deployed and activities pooled. Strengthening and further expanding this position has to be the goal in the These tasks are handled by the coming years. This means not only European Space Agency (ESA). It overcoming technological and eco- coordinates and promotes the devel- nomic challenges but also dealing with opment of European space technol- difficult political issues. The leading Preparation of the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), APCO ogy and ensures that the investment players – science, politics and indus- Technologies – Mechanical Ground Support Equipment. made goes to the lasting benefit of try – have to work seamlessly together. all Europeans. The EU aims to utilise the benefits of its space policy in its Engagements within the Space security, environment, transport, eco- Industry nomic and social policy. Swissmem unites the Swiss electrical ESA has an annual budget of about and mechanical engineering indus- three billion euros. Switzerland contrib- tries and associated technology-ori- utes around 166 million francs annually. ented sectors. The space industry is As a result, funds flow into research and an important division among them. enable Swiss scientists to participate International competitiveness is not in significant ESA missions, while the self-evident despite having ESA mem- manufacturers benefit as suppliers to bership. The ability to compete inter- Contact the research sector or directly through nationally is not a matter of course – it contracts awarded by ESA. must be worked on. Having a location Swiss Space Industries Group that is able to compete is the basis (SSIG) Swiss Collaboration of success. Swissmem is committed to Swiss companies and the qualities President While the Swiss space market cannot of Switzerland as a centre of industry match the biggest European countries and research. Continuous basic work P. Guggenbach for size, it can definitely keep up with has made Swissmem into a centre of RUAG Schweiz AG them in terms of quality and innova- strategic commercial and employer RUAG Space tion. The and Vega launchers, skills. This allows the association to Galileo and MetOp, the space as- represent the concerns of the sector Secretary General trometry mission Gaia or the Sentinel to politicians, national and interna- satellites for Copernicus, Europe's tional organizations, representatives R. Keller (SSIG) Global Monitoring for Environment and of employees and the public. Security system, are just some exam- Swissmem ples of important space programmes Apart from this, Swissmem offers Pfingstweidstr. 10 in which Swiss manufacturers have companies numerous practice-ori- PO Box, 8037 Zurich played a major role. There is hardly a ented services, which help them to Switzerland current European mission which does maintain their ability to compete and not incorporate Swiss technology. to successfully meet new challenges. www.swissmem.ch

83 Swiss Space Industries Group

SSIG Members The Specialists: SSIG, Jobs and Training Swiss Space Industries Group 3D PRECISION SA, www.3dprecision.ch Within Swissmem, SSIG (Swiss The Swiss Space companies in SSIG Apco Technologies SA Space Industries Group) is orga- currently engage ~900 employees in www.apco-technologies.com nized as a technology group. SSIG the Space sector, but thousands of includes companies that are signifi- other professionals are also indirectly Art of Technology AG cantly involved in the wide-ranging, connected. Many of them are univer- www.art-of-technology.ch competitive Swiss space technology sity graduates who find attractive jobs environment. These manufacturers in the diverse areas of the production Blösch AG, www.bloesch.ch and engineering companies play a of space components and systems prominent role in the broadly faceted, and contribute specialist expertise Boa AG, www.boa.ch competitive Swiss space industry, to the companies concerned. The and develop solutions for all areas of employees of those companies con- Clemessy (Switzerland) AG space business, including: Structures cerned, not only come from a broad www.clemessy.ch for rockets, satellites, space transport- spectrum of educational and training ers, and components for propulsion backgrounds, but also represent a CSEM, www.csem.ch engines and scientific instruments. wide range of disciplines and therefore help to create a highly diverse store EPFL, Swiss Space Center, www.epfl.ch Our companies participate in various of expertise. This includes specialist ESA projects and earn themselves knowledge in the fields of electron- Fisba Optik AG, www.fisba.ch a merited high place in the fiercely ics, optics, precision mechanics, aero- competitive European market by de- and thermodynamics, tribology, infor- Franke Industrie AG, www.industech.ch livering quality, expertise, flexibility and mation technology, material science on-time reliability. Space research is and additive manufacturing. Meggitt SA, Sensing Systems a driving force of innovation. Space www.meggittsensingsystems.com engineering brings together virtually all This broadly based expert knowledge the strategic technologies. The sector enables the companies to provide MetalUp3 SA, www.metalup3.ch therefore stands out as a future-orient- innovative solutions to the complex ed, innovative and attractive employer. challenges arising in the space sector. Orolia Switzerland SA, www.spectratime.com

Precicast SA, www.precicast.com

RUAG Schweiz AG, RUAG Space www..com/space

SAPHYRION Sagl, www.saphyrion.ch

Schurter AG, www.schurter.ch

Shirokuma GmbH, www.shirokuma-gmbh.ch

SYDERAL SA, www.syderal.ch

ViaSat Antenna Systems SA, www.viasat.com

WEKA AG, www.weka-ag.ch Final assembly of payload fairings at RUAG Space in Emmen, Switzerland.

84 Index of Authors

11 Index of Authors

Kathrin Altwegg...... WP/PI, Univ. Bern Marc Audard ...... Univ. Geneva Willy Benz ...... WP/PI, Univ. Bern Enrico Bozzo ...... Univ. Geneva Rolf Dach...... AIUB, Univ. Bern Alexander Damm...... RSL, Univ. Zurich Simon Dandavino...... EPFL Space Eng. Center, EPFL Marcel Egli...... HSLU, Hergiswil Laurent Eyer ...... Univ. Geneva Carlo Ferrigno ...... ISDC, Univ. Geneva Wolfgang Finsterle...... PMOD/WRC Andrea Fischer...... ISSI, Bern Volker Gass...... Swiss Space Center, EPFL Domenico Giardini ...... ETH, Zurich Nuno Guerreiro ...... PMOD/WRC Margit Haberreiter ...... PMOD/WRC Daniel Henke...... RSL, Univ. Zurich Berry Holl ...... Univ. Geneva Andreas Hueni ...... RSL, Univ. Zurich Anton Ivanov ...... EPFL Space Eng. Center, EPFL Adrian Jäggi ...... AIUB, Univ. Bern Raoul Keller...... Swissmem, SSIG Mathias Kneubühler...... RSL, Univ. Zurich Säm Krucker...... FHNW Jean-Luc Josset ...... Space Exploration Inst., Neuchatel Erich Meier ...... RSL, Univ. Zurich Giulio Molinari ...... ETH, Zurich Felix Morsdorf ...... RSL, Univ. Zurich Axel Murk ...... IAP, Univ. Bern Stéphane Paltani...... ISDC, Univ. Geneva Nicolas Produit ...... ISDC, Univ. Geneva Muriel Richard-Noca ...... EPFL Space Eng. Center, EPFL Markus Rothacher...... ETH, Zurich Thomas Schildknecht ...... AIUB, Univ. Bern Werner Schmutz ...... PMOD/WRC David Small ...... RSL, Univ. Zurich Nicolas Thomas...... WP/PI, Univ. Bern Devis Tuia ...... RSL, Univ. Zurich Benjamin Walter...... PMOD/WRC Roland Walter ...... ISDC, Univ. Geneva Xin Wu...... DPNC, Univ. Geneva Peter Wurz...... WP/PI, Univ. Bern Peter Zweifel ...... ETH, Zurich

85 Swiss Committee on Space Research www.spaceresearch.scnatweb.ch

Swiss Commission on Remote Sensing http://www.naturwissenschaften.ch/ organisations/skf

Swiss Academy of Sciences www.scnat.ch