![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Yesterday was the 14th anniversary of me working on the European Space Agency's Cluster mission.
Today, I received news that one of my Year 1 Aero students, whom I helped with her application, has been accepted onto ESA's prestigious Fly A Rocket! programme.
That is just about the best anniversary gift I could have received.
Have a photo of an extremely tired me in my headphones, preparing to record a lecture, wearing my Cluster hoodie that was gifted to me by my magnetometer lab colleagues. All that blurry stuff is the cracking around my phone's front camera. I need to replace my phone. There is no time to shop for a new phone. *thud*
Today, I received news that one of my Year 1 Aero students, whom I helped with her application, has been accepted onto ESA's prestigious Fly A Rocket! programme.
That is just about the best anniversary gift I could have received.
Have a photo of an extremely tired me in my headphones, preparing to record a lecture, wearing my Cluster hoodie that was gifted to me by my magnetometer lab colleagues. All that blurry stuff is the cracking around my phone's front camera. I need to replace my phone. There is no time to shop for a new phone. *thud*
I dug out this mechanical drawing of one of the Cluster spacecraft the other day, because I needed to know how long the deployed magnetometer boom is. The reason is not so important. Things that are important:
- The drawing has been taken in and out of the folder so many times that the inner set of holes has been destroyed.
- Holy tatty edges, Batman.
- The version of the document it's part of was issued in June 1993. That's over 26 years ago.
- Printing stuff in A3 is so good for detail in drawings.
- How is it that my old work colleague, Patrick, never spilled his tea on this? Truly a mystery for the ages.
tags:
This is me and Spanish Colleague, at Polish Colleague's leaving do last week. I'm putting this up because it feels like a long time since I posted a photo of myself in nice clothes. I love this dress. The bloke bought it for me at MadChique, a boutique just on the edge of the red light district in Amsterdam.
The rest of this post's content is unrelated to the photo. Sorry/not sorry! Yesterday, one of my Dreamwidth circle brought their daughter to London. Said daughter is about to start secondary school and likes science. We (daughter and I) have been corresponding periodically for a couple of years, and I thought it would be nice for her to visit the lab and see science and engineering in action.
They arrived just after noon and so got to experience the utter randomness that is the lab's lunchtime conversation, as well as being introduced to all of the lab members who aren't currently on holiday. One of the more flamboyant undergraduates currently doing a summer research project with us dropped an f-bomb. (He sends his profuse apologies, DW friend.)
Then we went downstairs and got a proper lab tour underway. Daughter got to see the Solar Orbiter qualification model sensor being tested with its spacecraft simulator, and the JUICE breadboard model electronics being tested with its spacecraft simulator. Daughter got to see the JUICE engineering model sensor being put into the thermal chamber and heated up. Daughter got to see the breadboard electronics for the Radcube instrument (Radcube is a CubeSat, so very small) being tested. Everyone in lab was very happy to talk to a keen young person about what they do, and Daughter seemed keen to absorb all they had to say.
Daughter also got to see our cupboard full of Space Junk. Well, some of it is space junk, like the charred bits of the Cluster I instruments we built. The four Cluster I spacecraft exploded 35 second after launch, and pieces of it were subsequently fished out of the swamps of French Guyana by some (presumably very disgruntled) French foreign legionnaires. The four Cluster II spacecraft have been in orbit around the Earth since 2000 and are still producing science data 18 years later. The non-space-junk includes scale models of various spacecraft we've build parts for, and flight spares, and the bit of glass subjected to deep dielectric discharge, leaving a pattern that looks like a frozen lightning strike.
All too soon it was time for Yet Another Telecon, so I escorted my visitors downstairs lest they get trapped forever in the rabbit warren that is our building. They said goodbye and went off to enjoy the nearby Science Museum and Natural History Museum unhindered by overenthusiastic scientists. Fingers crossed we made a good impression!
tags:
- Who made you feel good this week, and how?
My line manager made me feel appreciated and valued. An ex-colleague made specific plans to hang out with me twice in the next five weeks and that made me feel good about people wanting to spend time with me even though I’m always tired. - What did you do this week that moved you closer to reaching your goals?
Arranged a meeting with my Big Boss. Well, I don’t know if the meeting will actually move me closer to my goals, but the act of setting aside a specific time to talk about it was a step I’d been putting off for ages. - What did you most enjoy doing this week?
Calibrating Cluster magnetometer data. - What did you learn this week?
I learnt that there are a lot of ways to arrange the wires and pads in a flip-and-wire mounting of a SMD (surface mount device) on a PCB (printed circuit board), and that they are all ugly. Some are more compact than others, but there is never going to be anything pretty about big blobs of Scotchweld.
Hey, you asked. - What’s the funniest thing that happened to you this week?
[Bodily function TMI alert] Keiki pooped himself whilst he was asleep. He came downstairs for his breakfast, and Humuhumu and I went, “Phwoar, Keiki!” Then the three of us spontaneously burst into a rendition of Keiki’s classic song Poo in the Night.
Parenting: so awesome
tags:
August is, apparently, the season for Certificates of Appreciation in spacecraft engineering!
First up is the one for Solar Orbiter.
This has an image of the spacecraft approaching the Sun in the upper right corner. It reads, “This certificate recognises the significant contribution of [nanila] to the development of the magnetometer instrument on the Solar Orbiter spacecraft. In recognition of this contribution, your name will be carried within the memory of the magnetometer instrument on its voyage to explore the Sun and the inner solar system.” It’s signed by the instrument PI (Principal Investigator) and instrument manager (my fantastic colleague and labmate Helen).
My name’s going to the Sun! (TBH I’m glad it’s just name. It’s a bit...lethal-radiation-y out there.)
Second is the one from Rosetta.
This as, as its backdrop, a stunning close-up image of Comet 67P taken by the OSIRIS instrument. There’s a sketched Rosetta spacecraft in the upper left corner, and a sketched Philae in the lower right. It reads, “European Space Agency presents this certificate to [nanila] in recognition of your outstanding contribution to the ESA Rosetta Mission.” It’s signed by the Director of Science at ESA, the Rosetta Mission Manager and the Rosetta Project Scientist.
Finally, here’s an old one from the Cluster and Double Star anniversaries.
This one has an image of the Sun and the Earth (not to scale), as well as the Earth’s magnetic field in blue. The four Cluster spacecraft are in formation at the bottom right and the two Double Star spacecraft are closer to the Earth. Also not to scale (“These are small and those are far away”).
The certificate reads “Cluster 15th and Double Star 10th anniversary. ESA and NSSC present this certificate to [nanila] in recognition of your outstanding contribution to the Cluster and Double Star missions.” It’s signed by the Chinese National Space Science Center director, the Cluster & Double Star project scientist and the Director of Science & Robotic Exploration at the European Space Agency.
The Cluster mission is now in its 17th year since the commissioning phase ended and still going strong. The Double Star spacecraft are no longer operational.
I’ve worked on the Cluster mission since 2006.
First up is the one for Solar Orbiter.
This has an image of the spacecraft approaching the Sun in the upper right corner. It reads, “This certificate recognises the significant contribution of [nanila] to the development of the magnetometer instrument on the Solar Orbiter spacecraft. In recognition of this contribution, your name will be carried within the memory of the magnetometer instrument on its voyage to explore the Sun and the inner solar system.” It’s signed by the instrument PI (Principal Investigator) and instrument manager (my fantastic colleague and labmate Helen).
My name’s going to the Sun! (TBH I’m glad it’s just name. It’s a bit...lethal-radiation-y out there.)
Second is the one from Rosetta.
This as, as its backdrop, a stunning close-up image of Comet 67P taken by the OSIRIS instrument. There’s a sketched Rosetta spacecraft in the upper left corner, and a sketched Philae in the lower right. It reads, “European Space Agency presents this certificate to [nanila] in recognition of your outstanding contribution to the ESA Rosetta Mission.” It’s signed by the Director of Science at ESA, the Rosetta Mission Manager and the Rosetta Project Scientist.
Finally, here’s an old one from the Cluster and Double Star anniversaries.
This one has an image of the Sun and the Earth (not to scale), as well as the Earth’s magnetic field in blue. The four Cluster spacecraft are in formation at the bottom right and the two Double Star spacecraft are closer to the Earth. Also not to scale (“These are small and those are far away”).
The certificate reads “Cluster 15th and Double Star 10th anniversary. ESA and NSSC present this certificate to [nanila] in recognition of your outstanding contribution to the Cluster and Double Star missions.” It’s signed by the Chinese National Space Science Center director, the Cluster & Double Star project scientist and the Director of Science & Robotic Exploration at the European Space Agency.
The Cluster mission is now in its 17th year since the commissioning phase ended and still going strong. The Double Star spacecraft are no longer operational.
I’ve worked on the Cluster mission since 2006.
[Image of a fluxgate magnetometer in its housing with its frayed MLI-coated cable curled round it. The destroyed connectors can be seen. The whole assembly is sitting on top of an antistatic envelope. The sensor housing reads: "CLUSTER-FGM SENSOR 08 FM1", where FM means "flight model".]
I gave an outreach talk at an open day this morning, to about a hundred A-level students, their parents and their teachers. The talk was focused on the Cassini end-of-mission science, but I managed to sneak in this bit of space history when explaining what a magnetometer does.
The fluxgate in the photo above actually went into space for a few brief seconds. It got about 5 km up before it was unceremoniously returned to the Earth. The Ariane 5 rocket that launched the spacecraft whose payload it was part of had exploded, showering the swamps of French Guiana with wreckage.
This sensor sat in that swamp for a good few weeks before a French Foreign Legionnaire fished it out.
I'm afraid that being blown up and mouldering in a tropical pond was, in fact, enough to kill it, but it's still a pretty cool object, and the students seemed to like seeing it very much.
Me in another dress, on my balcony. Did I mention I only brought dresses to wear at this meeting? YAY DRESSES.
The Operations Review is over. I have completed one presentation. Tomorrow, the Cross-Calibration meeting begins, and I do my second presentation.
I have been running on the beach before the dawn both mornings so far. I have eaten ALL THE THINGS because this resort is all-inclusive with the food and the drinks. I have been swimming in, and lounging by, the pool with my fellow lady engineer/programmer/scientist colleagues. I have done a great deal of work, including some on-the-fly analysis that I've just put into tomorrow's presentation. I'm feeling accomplished.
It just might be rum o'clock.
I'm in Tenerife for, believe it or not, work. I had to arrive a day early because the first instrument team talk on Monday morning is mine.
So this is me after a long Skype conversation with my family, standing on the balcony outside my ridiculously-outsized-for-one-person room, breathing deeply.
The last of the press releases I was waiting for to make Announcements About Space came out yesterday so I can now write my Post of Great Happiness.
And now, I must go and rescue my pumpkin and pecan pies from beneath the noses of bloke and cat, for we are celebrating American Thanksgiving tomorrow.
- The European Space Agency's Cluster mission, studying the Earth's plasma environment and interaction with the heliosphere, has been extended from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016. This is the mission's seventh extension - the original mission began at the start of 2001 and was scheduled to last for two years. It is both astonishing and wonderful that all four spacecraft have lasted this long and continue to return such a rich seam of results. The quartet of spacecraft, flying in a tetrahedral formation, have gradually been approaching closer and closer to Earth, exploring different regions of the magnetosphere. It will be years, probably decades, before the potential of the data can be said to have been mined exhaustively.
The instrument I work on (the magnetometer) is fully operational on all four spacecraft. A couple of years ago, I calculated that I'd personally inspected tens of millions of magnetic field vectors. I suspect that number may have since entered the hundreds of millions. - Support for the European instruments aboard the joint NASA-ESA Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn has been approved by ESA's Science Programme Committee. Cassini is scheduled to take its final plunge into Saturn's atmosphere in late 2017. The magnetometer (our instrument) is still going strong.
- Other missions that I don't work on personally, but know people who do, also had two-year extensions approved: INTEGRAL, Mars Express, PROBA-2, SOHO, XMM-Newton, Hinode and HST. So many different types of exciting science!
Also, holy long-lasting spacecraft, Batman. Cluster is far from the most venerable. SOHO was launched in 1995 and went into operation, observing the Sun, in 1996. The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990. 1990. I hadn't the faintest inkling that I would end up becoming a scientist in 1990. /o\ - Finally, the really big one. The JUICE mission to the Jupiter system, which will be the first spacecraft to orbit one of the Galilean moons (Ganymede), has been formally adopted by the agency. This means we are now allowed to leave the design phase, wherein our spacecraft and instruments exist only on paper (lots and LOTS of paper), and enter the implementation phase, wherein we begin to Build Things. I am both proud and excited to be a part of one of the instrument teams.
And now, I must go and rescue my pumpkin and pecan pies from beneath the noses of bloke and cat, for we are celebrating American Thanksgiving tomorrow.
.
