Dr. David McComas, IMAP PI
Jon, a The study of the Sun and its connection to the solar system, including the physical processes that occur in the space environment. research scientist who graduated from UNH, had the opportunity to be involved with the IMAP mission from its proposal, conducting simulations and some data analysis for IMAP-Lo, and helping to build the IMAP-Lo lab. “Buying parts, putting in floors, meeting with contractors…the lab is being tented this week. We have to create the physical space for [IMAP-Lo] to be.” Skylar adds that right now, “there is a lot of on-your-feet problem solving in the day-to-day.”
Fall has flown by for the IMAP team, filled with detailed design work and instrument model development. We also are moving forward with the exciting process of preliminary testing of instrument engineering models and components, with CDR for each instrument lined up in the first months of the new year. With each build and test, the enthusiasm increases in the IMAP team as we move a step closer to launching our spacecraft and 10 instruments into space, where more is waiting to be discovered.
As we build and test each of the instrument models that will make up IMAP’s payload, we are also able to examine how each of them will come together with its mates and function in its “seat.” We continue to make minor shifts and tweaks as the model components “come to life” to ensure the best functional efficiency, viability through the rigors of launch, as well as maintaining the full promised science return for each instrument.
IMAP is both a collaboration of instruments, and of partner institutions across the globe. The incredible IMAP team members are located in 13 states and 6 countries. Each of the 24 institutions and team member are essential in making the IMAP mission possible – they make the GO IMAP! spirit. Moving into this build phase of the mission has meant that each instrument team has needed to move back in person to work together as much possible at the various build and testing sites, as well as gathering science and instrument team leads and key people from partner institutions to meet and work face-to-face together again. While cutting metal and team meetings invigorate mission team building in normal times, sharing physical workspace again has fanned the flames of mission excitement. It has been incredible to witness how being together so significantly increases productivity and morale of everyone.
An example of this palpable IMAP excitement is found at University of New Hampshire’s Institute for Study of Earth, Oceans and Space. Here a brand-new clean room and test lab is being created specifically for the task of building the IMAP-Lo instrument and its A measure of the flow of events. of Flight (ToF) subsystem. A small team of young engineers and a graduate student are playing the primary role in the building of the lab and clean room, and then the building and testing of IMAP-Lo ToF, under IMAP-Lo Instrument Lead, Nathan Schwadron. They are a bright and engaged group that really showcase the value early career members bring to the GO IMAP! spirit that I am delighted to introduce you to.
IMAP Team Spotlight Feature: University of New Hampshire Experimental Space Plasma consists of a gas heated to sufficiently high temperatures that the atoms ionize. The properties of the gas are controlled by electromagnetic forces among constituent ions and electrons, which results in different behavior than gas made primarily of neutral atoms like the Earth’s atmosphere. Plasma is often considered the fourth state of matter (besides solid, liquid, and gas). Most of the matter in the Universe is in the plasma state. Lab Team
Photo Credit: UNH Lab Team
On the campus of the Institute for Earth, Oceans, and Space at University of New Hampshire, something exciting is happening. Quickly, offices and labs are being cleared out to upgrade an existing lab to a flight lab that will build and test the IMAP-Lo instrument. This unique opportunity for University of New Hampshire is made even more special because of the team that is doing it: five young post-graduate early career engineers and scientists: Skylar Vogler, Jon Bower, Dan Abel, Zack Smith, Grace Cardarelli, and Aly Aly - graduate student with an unbeatable project opportunity.
Under the management of Skylar Vogler, a field automation engineer with experience in clean rooms and upgrading systems, the lab will consist of an upgraded dual plasmatron ionizer and accelerator used to test the time-of-flight A measure of an object's resistance to change in its motion (inertial mass); a measure of the strength of gravitational force an object can produce (gravitational mass). An instrument for measuring the intensity of radiation as a function of wavelength or particles as a function of energy., entrance system, and other subsystems for IMAP-Lo. This is the first time for these early career engineers and scientists to not only be part of a mission from the near-beginning, but also to build a flight lab – a rare opportunity for engineers and scientists so early in their careers.
Jon, a heliophysics research scientist who graduated from UNH, had the opportunity to be involved with the IMAP mission from its proposal, conducting simulations and some data analysis for IMAP-Lo, and helping to build the IMAP-Lo lab. “Buying parts, putting in floors, meeting with contractors…the lab is being tented this week. We have to create the physical space for [IMAP-Lo] to be.” Skylar adds that right now, “there is a lot of on-your-feet problem solving in the day-to-day.”
Image Credit: UNH Lab Team
While getting to be key players in creating the space for building and testing spacecraft instrumentation is exciting in itself, this team will also be key players in the building and testing of IMAP-Lo components. Aly Aly, one of the graduate students working with Nathan Schwadron (IMAP-Lo Instrument Lead), is creating and conducting the simulations of the ToF section for IMAP-Lo testing. Grace Cardarelli, a mechanical engineer with a love for thermodynamics, will be working with the conducting thermal analysis. Dan Abel, an automation engineer, has history with the A predecessor to IMAP, IBEX is studying how our heliosphere interacts with interstellar space. IBEX created the first maps showing the interactions at that border, and how they change over time. mission. He simulated the IMAP-Lo entrance design as his undergraduate senior project. He, along with Zack Smith and Jon, will be running various simulations for the entrance system and The Time of Flight system is a particle detector in an instrument which can discriminate between a lighter and a heavier elementary particle of same momentum by measuring the difference in time the particle passes through two scintillators or sensors, essentially measuring the particle velocity..
Photo Credit: UNH Lab Team
While the team had early interest in science and math as young students, their inspiration that lead them to their roles on the IMAP team can be traced back to people and experience that they encountered in their undergraduate courses. For Aly, that was discovering a strong desire to look deeper into the truths of the The totality of all space and time; all that is, has been, and will be. and how we got here – something that his earlier academic path in business didn’t offer him. For Grace, it was a class in thermodynamics and being introduced to thermal fluid dynamics that sparked an interest that led her into her mechanical engineering graduate studies, then to defense contract work, before finding the IMAP mission position. Zack, Dan, and Jon all acknowledge the support and encouragement that they received from UNH research physicist Eberhard Moebius that led them to where they are now. While Dan and Zack left research work at the UNH’s Institute of Earth, Oceans, and Space (EOS) to work as engineers at the same company, they eagerly rejoined Jon at EOS to return to the work and environment that they all found much more gratifying and exciting.
Image Credit: UNH Lab Team
One of the many things that the team agrees on is how valuable they see this opportunity for them to exercise life-long learning and glean from the experts and experience they are immersed in. “I have learned a lot along the way…nothing I do day-to-day is what I learned in school,” Grace shares, emphasizing how critical her work experience has been to her knowledge and understanding of how things actually function. “It’s exciting getting to work in a new environment and field.” Zack agrees, stating that just gaining experience in the research and work in engineering “increased his confidence in being able to learn outside the classroom. It is also one of the top pieces that excites Jonathan about his IMAP role.
“Getting to throw yourself every day at completely new problems…having access to senior scientists and engineers and picking up information in everything they are saying and implement it.” “Every conversation is a chance to learn a ton of information – [the science and engineering teams] are packed with it,” Zack shares.
Image Credit: UNH Lab Team
As individuals, the team members also share some interests, such as a love for the outdoors that comes with living in scenic New Hampshire, that is also a paradise for the lab team hunters. Other interests are more diverse: Skylar is an ultramarathoner, Dan is researching high-definition possibilities with 3-D printing. Aly and Grace share a love for woodworking with differential outcomes. Aly is completing a self-constructed house for his family (while in grad school, with a toddler AND a baby) and contemplating a second one in the future. Grace builds furniture, recently completing a large dining table out of old reclaimed wood from her basement remodel. Jon, who also pursued art with physics as an undergrad, learned to play guitar during the last year of isolation, and gifted his music-teacher mother a serenade of a childhood song she sang to him. He is now picking up the synthesizer. Zack is an avid reader and writer, with a large heart for New England sports – except baseball.
Image Credit: UNH Lab Team
As for moments they are looking forward to in the IMAP mission, they are of course very enthusiastic about launch day, as well as having their names behind something that goes to space. Aly spoke of the new information waiting out there for IMAP to find. “For me, gaining more general knowledge and a more complete picture of Energetic Neutral Atoms are atoms with no charge that move very quickly. These atoms have equal numbers of positively-charged protons and negatively-charged electrons. ENAs form when charged particles from the solar wind travel outward and encounter atoms from the interstellar medium. Because the ENAs are neutral, they do not react to any magnetic fields. Some of these ENAs travel toward the inner solar system and are captured by the IMAP spacecraft. and ions from solar Usually refers to electromagnetic waves, such as light, radio, infrared, X-rays, ultraviolet; also sometimes used to refer to atomic particles of high energy, such as electrons (beta-radiation), helium nuclei (alpha-radiation), and so on. without The phenomenon where waves, such as radio signals or light waves, overlap and combine, affecting the accuracy of measurements. This can occur when signals from different sources mix, leading to distortion of data or reduction in the clarity of received information.,” Aly offers. In a nod to the heritage the IBEX mission brings to the IMAP mission, Jon offered, “taking what we have learned about IBEX and improving it.” However, as a whole, their commitment to the work in front of them shines most for them right now, citing such thoughts as: having the upgraded lab that they have been dreaming about be built and having the resources to do so – getting to see all the plans and possibilities manifest, but also getting to “gown up, get in, and build” and getting to get into the calibration and execution part. Skylar sums one of the best parts for them right now in saying, “Watching the whole team come together.”
Be on the watch in the future as we offer video footage of the clean room at UNH and the IMAP-Lo work being conducted there.