The SDL staff are mounting the AWE Opto-Mechanical Assembly (OMA) to the ExPRESS Payload Adapter (ExPA). Instrument Electronics Box (IEB) on the right is already mounted.
The SDL staff are mounting the AWE Opto-Mechanical Assembly (OMA) to the ExPRESS Payload Adapter (ExPA). Instrument Electronics Box (IEB) on the right is already mounted.
A device fully researched and made by Utah State University and the USU Space Dynamics Laboratory will be launched into space from the Kennedy Space Center Thursday, Nov. 9, at 6:28 p.m.
Once in space, the Atmospheric Wave Experiment will be connected to the International Space Station and relay valuable data back to Earth. Erik Syrstad, payload manager for the AWE, helped lead the team that built the device. Syrstad is a project manager who has been at the Space Dynamics Lab since 2004.
“Basically, I’m responsible for leading and managing the team at SDL that built the design,” Syrstad said. “Built and tested the infrared telescopes, which is basically the core instrument that’s enabling the AWE science measurements.”
Syrstad also lead the proposal to NASA in 2016 that resulted in SDL and USU being awarded the funding to build the AWE. He mentioned that Mike Taylor from USU is the lead researcher of the project. Taylor has been studying atmospheric gravity waves for decades through ground-based instruments and helped come up with the idea of getting an instrument in space.
After that, USU researchers and SDL worked together to develop a prototype which was presented to NASA in a mission of opportunity competition. The AWE won the competition, and SDL was awarded funds from NASA to develop the AWE to be attached to the International Space Station.
Once attached, the AWE will send data back to Earth about atmospheric gravity waves.
“These are basically disturbances in the atmosphere that are produced from different sources and all around the globe and Earth’s weather system,” Syrstad said. “These waves are generated by weather events, severe weather events such as hurricanes, tropical storms or even just strong winds blowing over large mountain ranges. Some of these waves have the right properties such that they can travel vertically up into the upper layers of earth’s atmosphere and actually beyond into the lower edge of space.”
The AWE will be the first mission that will measure these waves from space. The hope is that it will tell scientists more about the relationship between Earth’s weather and space’s weather.
“These waves carry energy with them, and they can deposit that energy and actually change or modify the space environment,” Syrstad said. “So basically, this is a key way that we think that Earth’s weather system actually impacts the space weather system, but these waves, these small-scale gravity waves, have never been measured on a global scale, so the AWE mission will basically allow us to do that for the for the first time.”
Syrstad said the AWE project is co-led by USU and SDL. USU leads the research side of the mission while SDL leads the engineering side, and will also be in charge of monitoring the data coming back from the AWE.
“We have the Mission Operations Center where we’re going to be monitoring the instrument for the next couple of years and basically overseeing all the other aspects of the mission,” Syrstad said. “It’s the first time that SDL has actually had the opportunity to be the prime contractor for a NASA mission of this type.”
After the AWE is launched, it will take about a week before it is in an operating state and will begin transferring data back to Earth.
“It takes about a day and a half for the rocket to dock with the ISS, and we will be on dock for a couple of days,” Syrstad said. “Then eventually they’re able to grab us with the robotic arm and transfer us to the payload site that we’re going to be mounted to, which is on the outside of the ISS and facing nadir, meaning downward.”
After that, Syrstad said they believe the AWE will immediately be in a safe operating state and will begin its mission. He said they will be able to make adjustments to the device for the first month, such as changing detector temperatures if needed for it to operate correctly. The AWE will be in operation for a few years.
“After that, we have a two-year mission,” Syrstad said. “That’s the baseline duration. There is a possibility of being extended, but basically we’re funded and are planning for a two-year mission duration.”
More information about the AWE mission can be found at awemission.org.
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