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Institut Für Weltraumforschung (IWF) Österreichische Akademie Der Wissenschaften (ÖAW) Schmiedlstraße 6, 8042 Graz, Austria Twitter: @IWF Oeaw

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Institut Für Weltraumforschung (IWF) Österreichische Akademie Der Wissenschaften (ÖAW) Schmiedlstraße 6, 8042 Graz, Austria Twitter: @IWF Oeaw WWW.OEAW.AC.AT ANNUAL REPORT 2020 IWF INSTITUT FÜR WELTRAUMFORSCHUNG WWW.OEAW.AC.AT/IWF COVER IMAGE Artist's impression of ESA's Solar Orbiter mission, which will face the Sun from within the orbit of Mercury at its closest approach (© ESA/ATG medialab). TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 5 NEAR-EARTH SPACE 7 SOLAR SYSTEM 15 SUN & SOLAR WIND 15 MERCURY 18 VENUS AND MARS 21 JUPITER AND SATURN 23 COMETS AND DUST 25 EXOPLANETARY SYSTEMS 27 SATELLITE LASER RANGING 35 TECHNOLOGIES 37 NEW DEVELOPMENTS 37 INFRASTRUCTURE 40 LAST BUT NOT LEAST 41 PUBLICATIONS 43 PERSONNEL 55 IMPRESSUM INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION The Space Research Institute (Institut für Weltraum- The Cluster mission celebrated its 20th anniversary forschung, IWF) in Graz focuses on the physics of in 2020 and still provides unique data to better our solar system and exoplanets. With about 100 staff understand space plasma. members from 20 nations it is one of the largest institutes For already five years, the four MMS spacecraft of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Österreichische explore the acceleration processes that govern the Akademie der Wissenschaften, ÖAW). dynamics of the Earth's magnetosphere. IWF develops and builds space-qualified instruments and The first China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite analyzes and interprets the data returned by them. Its core (CSES-1) has studied the Earth's ionosphere since engineering expertise is in building magnetometers and 2018. CSES-2 will follow in 2022. on-board computers, as well as in satellite laser ranging, which is performed at a station operated by IWF at the On its way to Mercury, BepiColombo, had gravity Lustbühel Observatory. In terms of science, the institute assist maneuvers at Earth (March) and Venus concentrates on dynamical processes in space plasma (October). It will investigate the planet, using two physics, the upper atmospheres of planets and on orbiters, one specialized in magnetospheric studies exoplanets. and one in remote sensing. IWF cooperates closely with space agencies all over In its first operational year, CHEOPS (CHaracterizing the world and with numerous other national and ExOPlanets Satellite) has already provided significant international research institutions. A particularly results about the characteristics of exoplanets intense cooperation exists with the European Space orbiting bright stars. Agency (ESA). Along its innovative trajectory, ESA's Solar Orbiter The institute is currently involved in twenty-one active flew by Venus in December to change its orbit and future international space missions; among these: around the Sun. A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying Solar Orbiter lifts off on 9 February 2020 at 11:03 p.m. EST (© ULA). 5 6 ESA's JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE, launch: THE YEAR 2020 IN NUMBERS 2022) will investigate Jupiter and three of its largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. Members of the institute published 168 papers in refereed international journals, of which 42 were first FORESAIL-2 (launch: 2023) is one of three CubeSats author publications. During the same period, articles to characterize the variability of ultra-low frequency with authors from the institute were cited 7089 times waves in the inner magnetosphere. in the international literature. In addition, 26 talks SMILE (launch: 2023) is designed to study the (11 invited) and 33 posters were presented (virtually) interaction between the solar wind and Earth's by IWF members at international conferences. Last magnetosphere. but not least, institute members were involved in the organization of four international meetings. PLATO (launch: 2026) is a space-based observatory to search for planets orbiting alien stars. Comet Interceptor (launch: 2029) will characterize in IWF STRUCTURE AND FUNDING detail, for the first time, a dynamically-new comet or The institute is led by Director Wolfgang Baumjohann. interstellar object. Werner Magnes serves as Deputy Director. IWF is structured into six research groups: HIGHLIGHTS IN 2020 Exoplanets (Lead: Luca Fossati) The successful launch of Solar Orbiter marked the Planetary Atmospheres (Lead: Helmut Lammer) highlight at the beginning of the year. The Chinese Space Plasma Physics (Lead: Rumi Nakamura) Tianwen-1 mission followed in July. On-Board Computers (Lead: Manfred Steller) Two studies in the "Journal of Geophysical Research" Magnetometers (Lead: Werner Magnes) and "Geophysical Research Letters" explained the Satellite Laser Ranging (Lead: Georg Kirchner) origin of bead-like structures in the aurora. Most financial support is given by ÖAW. Significant In "Astronomy & Astrophysics" the first measurement support is also provided competitively by other results from CHEOPS were presented, characterizing national institutions, in particular the Austrian Research the exoplanet WASP-189b in detail. Promotion Agency (FFG) and the Austrian Science Fund In "Nature Communications" the first successful (FWF). Furthermore, European institutions like ESA and the European Union contribute substantially. daylight space debris laser ranging was published. Tianwen-1 was launched aboard a Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang Space Center on 23 July 2020 (© CNSA). IWF/ÖAW NEAR-EARTH SPACE NEAR-EARTH SPACE Near-Earth space is a most suitable place to study orientation. The simulation showed how the instability fundamental space plasma processes through advanced, drives fast magnetic reconnection, which is the main in-situ measurements of the charged particles together scientific target of theMagnetospheric Multi-Scale (MMS) with electric and magnetic fields at high cadence. In mission. The results will also significantly support the particular, multi-point spacecraft missions enable physical interpretation of MMS observations. to advance our understanding of complex plasma While MMS studies micro-scale processes, observations processes by differentiating spatial structure from from the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions temporal changes. IWF has been participating in a during Substorms (THEMIS) multi-spacecraft mission number of Near-Earth space missions from the planning are suited for meso-scale magnetospheric boundary and proposal phase, by developing and building processes such as dipolarization fronts. This magnetic new hardware, and by operating and calibrating the feature is considered to be produced in association instruments. Data taken from these missions have been with the interaction of plasma jets and the ambient extensively analyzed at IWF with different methods magnetic field and is a major energy conversion region and by theoretical modeling to compare with the in the magnetotail. A detailed comparison between observations. the THEMIS observations and a computer model of New studies dealing with the interaction of the solar the plasma instability called interchange instability, wind with the Earth's magnetosphere were completed unveiled detailed mechanisms how a localized magnetic using the data from the missions to which IWF field front structure is formed. The obtained knowledge contributes. Also theoretical and numerical studies from the near-Earth space observations contribute to helped to interpret the mission data. Among different enhancing our understanding of space plasma processes results one of this year's highlights is the first 3D fully in other plasma environments within our solar system kinetic particle-in-cell simulation of a plasma instability and beyond. called Kelvin-Helmholtz instability performed for a specific (i.e., southward) interplanetary magnetic field Artist's impression of the solar wind interaction with the Earth's magnetosphere (© ESA/AOES Medialab). 7 8 CLUSTER IWF has taken the lead for the Active Spacecraft POtential Control of the satellites (ASPOC) and is participating ESA's Cluster mission is designed to study different in the Electron Drift Instrument (EDI) and the Digital plasma processes created by the interaction between FluxGate magnetometer (DFG). In addition to the the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere. This first operation of these instruments and the scientific data four-spacecraft mission has been successfully operating analysis, IWF is contributing in inflight calibration for twenty years starting from its launch in August 2000 activities and also deriving a new data product such as and is currently planned to be extended until 2022. the density using controlled spacecraft potential. IWF is Principal and/or Co-Investigator (PI/Co-I) of five instruments and has contributed to data archiving A spacecraft in a plasma becomes charged due to a activities at the Cluster Science Archives (CSA) in addition number of different processes. The two most important are photoelectron emission from the sunlit surfaces of to the science data analysis. the spacecraft and the collection of thermal electrons by the spacecraft. For the regulation of the spacecraft THEMIS/ARTEMIS potential on MMS an ASPOC instrument was included, which reduces the potential by emitting a current. NASA's five-spacecraft mission THEMIS (Time History If the photoelectron emission can be modelled, of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms), then the spacecraft potential can be used to obtain was launched in 2007. In 2010, the two outer spacecraft a measurement of the electron density. This has the were renamed ARTEMIS (Acceleration, Reconnection, advantage of an increased time resolution over direct Turbulence and Electrodynamics mission) and put in orbit measurements with plasma instruments.
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