50 YEARS OF RESEARCH AT THE BELGIAN INSTITUTE FOR SPACE AERONOMY Chapter 1 1 50 YEARS OF RESEARCH AT THE BELGIAN INSTITUTE FOR SPACE AERONOMY EDITORIAL BOARD FOREWORD Direction Board Martine De Mazière, Johan De Keyser and Didier Fussen This book was written on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Belgisch Instituut voor Ruimte-Aeronomie - Scientific Board Institut d’Aéronomie Spatiale de Belgique (BIRA-IASB). It is intended to present a large part of the scientific studies carried Crist Amelynck, Christine Bingen, Simon Chabrillat, out during 50 years at BIRA-IASB. This is neither an exhaustive activity report nor a scientific textbook on aeronomy. Frank Daerden, Johan De Keyser, Martine De Mazière, Didier Fussen, Michel Kruglanski, Karolien Lefever, The addressed topics illustrate the historical evolution of scientific researches in the field of aeronomy since its infancy, Didier Moreau, Jean-François Müller, Eddy Neefs, in the sixties. Only a minority of topics is not reported. Viviane Pierrard, Paul C. Simon, Michel Van Roozendael and Ann Carine Vandaele. Special thanks go to all external authors: Editorial Support Guy Brasseur, Dirk Frimout, Ghislain Grégoire, William A. Lahoz, Marie-Claude Limbourg and Jean-Pierre Pommereau. Stéphanie Fratta, Sophie Robyns, Umar Sayyed and Tim Somers Their affiliation is mentioned explicitly in the book. All other authors and contributors are from BIRA-IASB or have been working there until their retirement. The authors are responsible for the content of their chapters and sections.. Responsible Editor Belgisch Instituut voor Ruimte-Aeronomie - BIRA-IASB gratefully acknowledges the financial support received for this publication from the Federal Public Planning Service institut d’aéronomie spatiale de Belgique (Bira-iasB) Science Policy, also known as Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO). 2 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD 3 THE MESOSPHERE AND LOWER THERMOSPHERE: TRANSITION REGIONS AND Simon Chabrillat and Guy Brasseur (MPI-M, NCAR) 75 CURRENT RESEARCH THEORETICAL AND MODELLING STUDIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE Sébastien Viscardy and Quentin Errera 78 1. PREFACE Dirk Frimout 12 TROPOSPHERIC MODELLING Jean-François Müller and Trissevgeni Stavrakou 82 2. SPACE AERONOMY: A HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION Paul C. Simon 18 6. BALLOON OBSERVATIONS Crist Amelynck and Paul C. Simon 86 INTRODUCTION Jean-Pierre Pommereau (LATMOS) 88 3. THE SUN AND THE EARTH’S ENVIRONMENT Paul C. Simon 32 SOLAR ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION Paul C. Simon 91 INTRODUCTION Paul C. Simon, Viviane Pierrard and Joseph Lemaire 34 INFRARED REMOTE SENSING FROM STRATOSPHERIC BALLOONS Christian Muller 93 THE SUN Paul C. Simon 35 BALLOON INTERCOMPARISON CAMPAIGNS Jean-Pierre Pommereau (LATMOS) and Paul C. Simon 96 ULTRAVIOLET SOLAR IRRADIANCE AND ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES Paul C. Simon 38 MASS SPECTROMETRY Crist Amelynck and Niels Schoon 99 SOLAR ULTRAVIOLET IRRADIANCE VARIABILITY Paul C. Simon 40 SOLAR WIND Viviane Pierrard and Joseph Lemaire 42 7. FIRST ORBITAL OBSERVATIONS Paul C. Simon 102 SPACELAB 1 AND ATMOSPHERIC LABORATORY FOR APPLICATIONS AND Paul C. Simon 104 4. THE MAGNETOSPHERE: FROM FIRST DISCOVERIES Johan De Keyser 46 SCIENCE MISSIONS TO CURRENT RESEARCH THE GRILLE SPECTROMETER Christian Muller 107 INTRODUCTION Johan De Keyser 48 THE SOLAR SPECTRUM EXPERIMENT Paul C. Simon and Didier Gillotay 109 THE MAGNETOSPHERE Johan De Keyser 49 INVESTIGATION OF ATMOSPHERIC HYDROGEN AND DEUTERIUM THROUGH Paul C. Simon 112 THE PLASMASPHERE Joseph Lemaire and Viviane Pierrard 52 MEASUREMENT OF LYMAN-ALPHA EMISSION THE IONOSPHERE AND ITS COUPLING TO THE MAGNETOSPHERE Johan De Keyser and Michel Roth 56 THE EUROPEAN RETRIEVABLE CARRIER Paul C. Simon 114 ENERGETIC PARTICLES IN SPACE Norma Crosby 62 REMOTE SENSING OF THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE Didier Fussen and Filip Vanhellemont 115 BY THE SPACEBORNE OCCULTATION RADIOMETER THE SOLAR SPECTRUM INSTRUMENT ON BOARD EURECA Paul C. Simon 117 5. FROM THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE TO Jean-François Müller and Simon Chabrillat 66 THE TROPOSPHERE: THEORIES AND MODELS INTRODUCTION Simon Chabrillat and Guy Brasseur (MPI-M, NCAR) 68 8. SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS Paul C. Simon 118 THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE: THE REALM OF SATELLITES Simon Chabrillat, Guy Brasseur (MPI-M, NCAR) and 72 INTRODUCTION Paul C. Simon 120 Paul C. Simon THE GLOBAL OZONE MONITORING EXPERIMENT Jean-Christopher Lambert and Paul C. Simon 125 4 5 THE ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE 129 10. GROUND-BASED AND IN SITU OBSERVATIONS Martine De Mazière and Michel Van Roozendael 170 THE SCANNING IMAGING ABSORPTION SPECTROMETER FOR ATMOSPHERIC Jean-Christopher Lambert 131 INTRODUCTION Martine De Mazière, Michel Van Roozendael, 172 CHARTOGRAPHY: 10 YEAR MEASUREMENTS OF OUR CHANGING ATMOSPHERE Crist Amelynck and Hervé Lamy GLOBAL OZONE MONITORING BY OCCULTATION OF STARS ON BOARD Didier Fussen, Filip Vanhellemont and Cédric Tétard 133 THE NETWORK FOR THE DETECTION OF ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION Martine De Mazière, Michel Van Roozendael 174 ENVISAT: 10 YEARS OF STELLAR OCCULTATIONS CHANGE and Jean-Christopher Lambert THE GLOBAL OZONE MONITORING EXPERIMENT-2 ON BOARD METOP: Michel Van Roozendael 136 THE TOTAL CARBON COLUMN OBSERVING NETWORK GLOBAL MONITORING OF TOTAL OZONE AND THE TROPOSPHERIC Martine De Mazière and Filip Desmet 180 COMPOSITION THE BELGIAN SOLAR UV-VISIBLE MONITORING NETWORK Didier Gillotay 181 THE INFRARED ATMOSPHERIC SOUNDING INTERFEROMETER Sophie Vandenbussche and Evelyn De Wachter 138 TROPOSPHERIC TRACE GAS MONITORING USING MAXDOAS Michel Van Roozendael and François Hendrick 184 MULTI-SPACECRAFT EXPLORATION OF THE MAGNETOSPHERE WITH CLUSTER Johan De Keyser 140 BIOGENIC VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS Crist Amelynck and Niels Schoon 186 THE SOLAR SPECTRUM EXPERIMENT ON BOARD THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE David Bolsée and William Peetermans 143 SATELLITE VALIDATION Jean-Christopher Lambert 189 STATION BELGIAN RADIO METEOR STATIONS Hervé Lamy 192 THE ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT Martine De Mazière and Didier Fussen 145 MAPPING AIR QUALITY FROM AN UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE Alexis Merlaud and Michel Van Roozendael 194 THE ENERGETIC PARTICLE TELESCOPE INSTRUMENT Viviane Pierrard and Ghislain Grégoire (UCL) 147 THE ATMOSPHERIC LIMB TRACKER FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF THE Didier Fussen, Emmanuel Dekemper, Didier Pieroux, 150 UPCOMING STRATOSPHERE MISSION: THE FIRST BELGIAN SOUNDER OF THE and Filip Vanhellemont 11. LABORATORY STUDIES Ann Carine Vandaele and Crist Amelynck 198 EARTH ATMOSPHERE INTRODUCTION Ann Carine Vandaele and Crist Amelynck 200 THE PICOSATELLITE FOR ATMOSPHERIC AND SPACE SCIENCE OBSERVATIONS Didier Fussen, Didier Pieroux, Sylvain Ranvier and 153 MOLECULAR OXYGEN ABSORPTION CROSS SECTION BETWEEN 175 AND Paul C. Simon 202 MISSION: TOWARD GEOPHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS FROM MINIATURIZED Johan De Keyser 205 NM SPACE SENSORS HALOCARBONS ABSORPTION CROSS SECTIONS Didier Gillotay and Paul C. Simon 203 ATMOSPHERIC TRACE CONSTITUENTS Ann Carine Vandaele and Christian Hermans 206 9. THE ENDANGERED OZONE LAYER Paul C. Simon 156 CHEMICAL IONIZATION STUDIES OF ATMOSPHERIC COMPOUNDS Crist Amelynck and Niels Schoon 208 INTRODUCTION Guy Brasseur (MPI-M, NCAR) and Paul C. Simon 158 THE SUPERSONIC AIRCRAFT THREAT TO THE OZONE LAYER Christian Muller 161 12. AEROSOLS, FROM PIONEERING WORK TO Christine Bingen 211 THE HALOCARBON THREAT AND POLAR OZONE Paul C. Simon 163 GLOBAL SURVEY OZONE AND CLIMATE CHANGES Martine De Mazière 168 INTRODUCTION Christine Bingen 212 AEROSOL BALLOON FLIGHTS Christian Muller and Christine Bingen 214 STRATOSPHERIC SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS: OCCULTATION AND IMAGING Filip Vanhellemont 217 INSTRUMENTS 6 7 TWILIGHT OBSERVATIONS Nina Mateshvili 221 ELECTRONICS, SOFTWARE AND FIRMWARE DEVELOPMENT Eddy Neefs, Sophie Berkenbosch and Dennis Nevejans 272 CHARACTERIZATION OF STRATOSPHERIC AEROSOLS Christine Bingen and Christian Muller 224 MECHANICAL DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION Eddy Neefs, Jeroen Maes, Sophie Berkenbosch, Emiel 274 TROPOSPHERIC REMOTE SENSING OBSERVATIONS BY INFRARED Sophie Vandenbussche 227 Van Ransbeeck and Dennis Nevejans ATMOSPHERIC SOUNDING INTERFEROMETER IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE INSTRUMENTATION Eddy Neefs, Jeroen Maes and Sophie Berkenbosch 275 13. PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES Ann Carine Vandaele and Frank Daerden 230 16. SPACE OPERATIONS AND KNOWLEDGE Didier Moreau 278 INTRODUCTION Ann Carine Vandaele and Frank Daerden 232 MANAGEMENT INTRODUCTION THE PHOBOS OBSERVATIONS Christian Muller 234 Christian Muller and Didier Moreau 280 THE ATLAS MISSION OPERATIONS: THE SPACE REMOTE OPERATION CENTRE MARTIAN ATMOSPHERE EXPLORATION WITH MARS EXPRESS Nina Mateshvili and Eddy Neefs 236 Didier Moreau and Christian Muller 281 THE BELGIAN USER SUPPORT AND OPERATIONS CENTRE VENUS ATMOSPHERE EXPLORATION WITH VENUS EXPRESS Ann Carine Vandaele and Eddy Neefs 239 Didier Moreau and Marie-Claude Limbourg 282 ODISSEA AND CERVANTES MISSIONS NADIR AND OCCULTATION FOR MARS DISCOVERY AND EXOMARS Ann Carine Vandaele and Eddy Neefs 243 Marie-Claude Limbourg and Didier Moreau 283 SOLAR AND THE ATMOSPHERIC SPACE INTERACTION MONITORING REMOTE SENSING OF AEROSOLS ON MARS AND VENUS Valérie Wilquet 245 Alice Michel and Nadia This 284 INSTRUMENT MODELLING OF PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES Frank Daerden 247 PICARD Michel Anciaux and Claudio Queirolo 285 MASS SPECTROMETRY ON ROSETTA Johan De Keyser and Frederik Dhooghe 249 MULTI-PURPOSE END-TO-END ROBOTIC OPERATION NETWORK Karim Litefti and Rachid Abjij 287 TELEROBOTICS 14. SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS Michel Kruglanski 252 PREPARING THE LONG TERM SPACE DATA PRESERVATION Christian Muller and Didier Moreau 288 SATELLITE TRAJECTORY FORECASTING Paul C. Simon 254 SPACE WEATHER