http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/radiogram.htm

RSID: <<2024-12-06T00:31Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>
 

Welcome to program 380 of Shortwave Radiogram.

I'm Kim Andrew Elliott in Arlington, Virginia USA.

Here is the lineup for today's program, in MFSK modes as noted:

  1:42 MFSK32: Program preview (now)
  2:48 MFSK32: BepiColombo spacecraft flies by Mercury again
  6:16 MFSK64: Using smartphones to study the ionosphere
10:14 MFSK64: This week's images
27:58 MFSK32: Closing announcements


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From Phys.org:

BepiColombo's fifth Mercury flyby

by European Space Agency
December 2, 2024

On Sunday 1 December 2024, BepiColombo flew past the planet
Mercury for the fifth time, readying itself for entering orbit
around the solar system's mysterious innermost planet in 2026.

The spacecraft flew between Mercury and the sun, getting to
within 37,630 km from the small planet's surface at 15:23 CET.
This is much farther than its first four flybys of the planet,
when BepiColombo flew as close as 165–240 km from the surface.

What made this flyby special is that it was the first time that
BepiColombo's MERTIS instrument was able to observe Mercury. This
radiometer and thermal infrared spectrometer will measure how
much the planet radiates in infrared light, something that
depends on both the temperature and composition of the surface.

This was the first time that any spacecraft measured what Mercury
looks like in mid-infrared wavelengths of light (7–14
micrometers). The data that MERTIS will collect throughout the
mission will reveal what types of minerals the planet's surface
is made of, one of the key Mercury mysteries that BepiColombo is
designed to tackle.

BepiColombo's other science instruments will monitor the
environment outside Mercury's magnetic field. Among other things,
they will measure the continuous (but changeable) stream of
particles coming from the sun known as the solar wind.

The other instruments switched on during this flyby are the
magnetometers MPO-MAG and MMO-MGF, the MGNS gamma-ray and neutron
spectrometer, the SIXS X-ray and particle spectrometer, the MDM
dust monitor and the PWI instrument that detects electric fields,
plasma waves and radio waves.

BepiColombo, a joint mission between ESA and the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA), will be the second and most complex
mission ever to orbit Mercury. It comprises two science orbiters:
ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA's Mercury Magnetospheric
Orbiter. While on their way to Mercury, the two orbiters are both
attached to the Mercury Transfer Module.

https://phys.org/news/2024-12-bepicolombo-mercury-flyby.html
 

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RSID: <<2024-12-06T00:36Z MFSK-64 @ 9265000+1500>>


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From the University of Colorado Boulder

Engineers transform smartphones into instruments for studying
space

By Daniel Strain
November 13, 2024

That ordinary smartphone in your pocket could be a powerful tool
for investigating outer space.

In a new study, researchers at Google and CU Boulder have
transformed millions of Android phones across the globe into a
fleet of nimble scientific instruments - generating one of the most
detailed maps to date of the uppermost layer of Earth's
atmosphere.

The group's findings, published Nov. 13 in the journal Nature,
might help to improve the accuracy of GPS technology worldwide
several-fold. The research was led by Brian Williams of Google
Research and included Jade Morton, professor in the Ann and H.J.
Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at CU Boulder.

"These phones can literally fit in your palm," Morton said. "But
through crowdsourcing, we can use them to change the way we
understand the space environment."

She and her colleagues used the GPS sensors that come standard in
every smartphone to collect data on how Earth's atmosphere warped
signals coming from satellites. In the process, they were able to
view phenomena in the atmosphere, such as blobs high above the
planet known as "plasma bubbles," in never-before-seen detail.

The group released its data publicly so that anyone can watch how
the atmosphere swirled and shifted over about eight
months. "Collaboration is central to scientific progress and to
our scientific research at Google," said Lizzie Dorfman, product
lead for Science AI in Google Research. "Dr. Morton's expertise
was essential to this research, and it has been an absolute
pleasure working with her as a visiting researcher and
collaborator."

Eye on the ionosphere

The study puts new focus on the ionosphere, a wispy layer of the
atmosphere that stretches more than 350 miles above Earth's
surface.

It's a volatile arena: Here, rays from the sun constantly beat
down on the atmosphere, splitting its molecules and atoms into a
soupy mix of charged particles - what scientists call a plasma. It
also never stays still.

"At 2 o'clock in afternoon, there are a lot more charged
particles in the ionosphere because the sun is at its strongest,"
Morton said. "But at night, the sun is on the other side of the
planet, so we have very few charged particles."

That fluctuation can play havoc with GPS technology.

Morton explained that the technology works through a sort of
stopwatch in space: Satellites thousands of miles from Earth
first beam radio waves to the planet. Your phone then pinpoints
your location by measuring how long it takes those signals to
reach the ground.

Scientists try to account for how the ionosphere might shift that
timing by mapping this region of space using radar dishes on the
ground. Currently, however, they can only observe about 14% of
the ionosphere at any one time. As a result, GPS devices may miss
your exact location by anywhere from a few to several dozen feet.

"There are a lot of applications that require a lot of
accuracy - for example, landing aircraft," Morton said.

Bubbling up

In the current study, the researchers landed on an unusual idea:
Rather than rely on expensive radar dishes, they could map the
ionosphere using a suite of sensors that already existed in every
country on Earth: Android phones.

The ionosphere maps are created using aggregated measurements of
the radio signals between satellites and the receivers in some
Android devices. Privacy protections ensure these measurements do
not identify any contributing individual devices.

In particular, the group used the phones to track in real time
how the ionosphere stretches out radio waves coming from
satellites.

The team reported that, on its own, this worldwide fleet could
observe roughly 21% of the ionosphere - potentially doubling the
accuracy of GPS devices worldwide.

"Millions of phones together can do a much better job of
monitoring the atmosphere than our ground network," Morton said.

The group's maps also capture the ionosphere in brilliant detail.

In May 2024, for example, a powerful solar storm struck Earth
just as the group's cell phones were looking up. In the hours
that followed, huge regions of atmosphere, or "plasma bubbles,"
containing low concentrations of charged particles formed above
parts of South America. Those bubbles then rose through the
ionosphere like wax in a lava lamp.

Morton, for her part, says the study shows the untapped potential
of the everyday technologies that many people take for granted.

"I have spent my lifetime building dedicated instruments to do
scientific research," Morton said. "But as technology advances in
our society, we see all these sensors at our disposal that have a
lot more power than we ever imagined."

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2024/11/13/engineers-transform-smartphones-instruments-studying-space
 

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This week's images ...



A Spider-Man balloon passes through a street during a Christmas
festival in Santiago, Chile, December 1.
https://tinyurl.com/22yd28jv ...

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A Spider-Man balloon during the 98th Macy's Thanksgiving Day
Parade, November 28, in New York City.
https://tinyurl.com/2cvu4h4a ...

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A Spider-Man balloon during the Bolo parade celebrating the
Christmas season in Mexico City. https://tinyurl.com/2xj37l4m ...

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A 42-meter-high candle which is an illuminated medieval tower
shines in the historic city center of Schlitz, Germany, November
30. https://tinyurl.com/26tldjmu ...

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Stairway at Frank Lloyd Wright's Turkel House (built 1955) in
Detroit. https://tinyurl.com/22j2nbvk ...

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Holiday lights alomg a path at the Overland Park Arboretum near
Kansas City. https://tinyurl.com/25w67zua ...

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The Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse at Monteo, on the Outer Banks of
North Carolina. https://tinyurl.com/2a4957tc ...

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Sunrise from seen from Oak Mountain State Park, Alabama, November
22. https://tinyurl.com/27ll6qvs ...

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The Capitol Christmas Tree was turned on December 3.
https://tinyurl.com/258tkdt4 ...

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Our art of the week is "Spreadsheet Chaos" (2024) by Melissa K.
Houck, from the Mathematical Art Digital Exhibition at Queens
College, New York City. https://tinyurl.com/297zuxzq ...

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Shortwave Radiogram returns to MFSK32 ...




 

RSID: <<2024-12-06T00:57Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>
 

This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK32 ...


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