Engebretson on Aug. 21 presented at a pre-launch meeting for NASA officials and RBSP science team members near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He explained how his observations from National Science Foundation (NSF) grant-funded research at Augsburg College can serve the mission’s objectives. The RBSP project is budgeted at $686 million, a sum that incorporates the mission’s planning phase, construction, launch, satellite operation, and scientific analysis.

NASA during the mission launch used an Atlas rocket to send two spacecraft—or twin probes—into the invisible donut-shaped Van Allen Radiation Belts that surround the Earth’s equator like Saturn’s rings surround that planet. The mission probes will take simultaneous readings at different locations far above the Earth’s atmosphere to determine whether a change in radiation levels indicates a change across time or across space.

Listen to an audio excerpt in which Engebretson discusses why scientists combine ground-based and satellite space research.

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Space science research at Augsburg

Augsburg College since 1970 has supported research that examines the Earth’s space environment. Ground data that Augsburg instruments collect will provide a large-scale picture of what is happening in the Earth’s environment, which is key as it takes each satellite approximately 10 hours to travel in one orbit, according to Engebretson. “That means they miss most of the volume of space,” he said. “We need the spacecraft to look in detail right in the middle of things, but we can see other features from the ground.”

Engebretson was one of eight scientists from the United States, Canada, and Japan who were invited to the NASA meeting to describe how their organizations’ ground-based research contributed to the scientific work of the RBSP mission.

Reducing the impact of space weather

“There are very practical reasons that we’re doing this research,” Engebretson said. “Our society is now so highly technological that space weather affects us.” Contemporary society relies on electricity for nearly every aspect of daily life and “magnetic storms [in the Earth’s space environment] have temporarily knocked out huge areas of the electrical power grid,” according to Engebretson.

He believes that his research can help create a magnetic storm warning system that would operate in much the same way as hurricane and tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service. “There are many fewer people hurt now because of weather warning systems,” he said. In the same way, “we will still have some damage to our technological infrastructure because of space weather, but the research we’re doing to help us understand it will reduce that risk and the damage that comes with it.”

Engebretson for more than 30 years has conducted space physics research at the College and has gathered data using ground-based observatories located at high latitudes in Arctic Canada, in Scandinavia, and in the Antarctic. “His knowledge of waves in the magnetosphere will be critical for the mission,” said Engebretson’s colleague David Murr, associate professor of physics.

NSF collaborative research grants

Augsburg College owns and manages experimental instruments, known as magnetometers, that measure magnetic fields. The Van Allen Radiation Belts are filled with trillions of charged particles that have been trapped by the Earth’s magnetic field. The belts were discovered in 1958 but remain largely unexplained, which is why scientists are exploring the belts’ harsh, dynamic environment and the extremes of space weather.

NSF provided Augsburg with funds for the magnetometer instruments, and it continues to award to the College grants that cover maintenance and data collection costs. This summer to Engebretson and Augsburg visiting faculty member Viacheslav Pilipenko so that the College can continue supporting collaborative research on magnetosphere interactions. The NSF has awarded Engebretson more than $1.8 million since mid-2008.

American Geophysical Union award

In addition to conducting research, Engebretson reviews academic journal articles through which his peers share conclusions from their experiments. The this fall will recognize Engebretson with an Excellence in Refereeing Award for his outstanding contribution in assisting editors select journal articles for publication. This is the second time that Engebretson will be recognized with the award; he also received it in 1990.

While Engebretson said he appreciates the opportunity to join a world-wide community of scientists through space science research, he acknowledges that one of the most important features of his work is sharing it with his students. Engebretson’s and NSF have supported dozens of undergraduate student research opportunities that educate and motivate science students, he said. Student researchers often publish or present their own space science research findings and many Augsburg alumni continue their studies by attending graduate or professional school.

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Among these scientists are two Augsburg physics graduates — Brian Anderson ’82 and George Ho ’91. Both work at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), which serves as the manager of the Mercury MESSENGER project for NASA.

Anderson is on the mission’s core team; he is a deputy project scientist and oversees the orbital operations planning to ensure that observations from all of the instruments are coordinated to meet the mission objectives. He is also a MESSENGER co-investigator for the work of the Magnetometer, one of seven scientific instruments on the spacecraft. This will measure the strength and variations of Mercury’s magnetic field, constantly collecting field samples.

Ho is an instrument scientist for another of the spacecraft’s instruments, the Energetic Particle and Plasma Spectrometer (EPPS), which measures the mix and characteristics of the charged particles in the planet’s magnetic field.

The goal of MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is to better understand Mercury, the planet with the oldest surface. It has been more than 30 years since data was sent from the Mariner spacecraft as it journeyed past Mercury but never orbited around it.

MESSENGER’s successful entry into orbit was reached after a journey of 4.9 billion miles. The spacecraft was launched on August 3, 2004, and followed a path to Mercury that included a flyby of Earth, two flybys of Venus, and three of Mercury before inserting itself into orbit last week. MESSENGER will remain in orbit one Earth year sending back data before returning. Its instruments were started up and testing began on March 24, with data transmittal set to begin on April 4.

To learn about the Mercury MESSENGER mission, go to .

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