This is according to a press conference that was held in Tel Aviv ahead of the launch
The CEO of the Israel Space Agency, Avi Har-Evan, hosted a press conference on Tuesday, 7/1/2003, which should be the last press conference before the launch of the shuttle Columbia with the Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon on board.
At the press conference, Prof. Ze'ev Levin - from the team of scientists responsible for the issue, Major M. of the Air Force and Har-Evan detailed the updated details related to the issue.
Separately, Prof. Eli Ganor, a member of the team for the Hidan site, was interviewed and said that the chance of dust storms over the Mediterranean Sea in January is not high, and therefore two more observations that can be made with the same equipment were added almost at the last minute - on the Aed forests in Brazil and an oceanographic experiment.
Prof. Zeev Levin from the Department of Geophysics at Tel Aviv University and one of the main researchers in the Madex project. He said that the priority of the Israeli experiment known as Medex on the shuttle is very high. "Our experiment determines many of the parameters of the launch - the orientation of the shuttle at different times.
NASA even complied with our request that the shuttle be oriented so that the Mediterranean Sea would be fully visible from it the greatest number of times. The orbit of the shuttle is set to a latitude of 39 degrees.
Our science program consists of four experiments. At first we thought that the astronaut would bring a camera, look out the window and take pictures. Over time the system became complex. Ilan Ramon doesn't even come to the camera. She is outside and since he cannot leave the cabin, all control is done electronically.
The intention was to measure particles in the atmosphere. Because we have experience with dust not only because we clean dust from tables... we have been studying dust for many years. We know a lot about the effects of dust on atmospheric processes such as the development of rain and clouds.
We discovered that there are developments with the dust particles from the moment they leave Africa until they reach us.
The phenomenon is at the forefront of global research and our contribution will be important. The dust covers a large part of the earth - from Africa to Europe and the Middle East on the one hand and towards the USA and South America.
In 2001, a storm passed from China, crossed the entire Pacific Ocean and reached Colorado within two weeks. This is a huge amount that contains 50 percent of all the particles we detect in the air. Dust is important for understanding climate. The international association that deals with the issue of dust also defined the issue of the interaction of the particles with the clouds as incomprehensible.
The purpose of the first study is therefore to check what happens with the dust storms. But since there was a fear that there wouldn't be exactly a dust storm, we directed the experiment to the Atlantic Ocean as well - from East Africa to the USA.
We decided that in addition to the shuttle looking from above, we would try to calibrate what the shuttle should see from above by an experiment from a plane flying over the eastern Mediterranean.
The plane is Israeli, contains many instruments that include measurements of size, composition, radiation, the position of the plane. Fly with the plane at several altitudes in roughly the same area where the shuttle will fly. We will adjust the plane's takeoff time so that we reach the highest altitude below the shuttle, so that the shuttle samples the same volume of air that the plane is testing.
We load and assemble the equipment within two hours on the plane.
One of the important things to remember is that NASA has 2 satellites that also measure dust - Terra and TOMS.
The idea is that we will try to help them calibrate both satellites together. They fly in space - not at the same point at the same time and not at the same angles. Madex's idea was to put the wavelengths of both satellites into the same camera. By doing this, it is possible to better calibrate the two satellites that are in space. This is a secondary goal of that experiment.
We also understood in advance that the chance of a lot of dust at different times of the year is not high, and on the contrary, it was decided to expand the number of experiments and we increased by three more experiments.
The first one, which in my opinion is the most interesting because the enthusiasm of the world is very great, is the tracking of sprites - goblins. This is a phenomenon that was discovered by chance in 1989 in the USA. They simply calibrated another camera - whose purpose was astronomical. When they returned to the lab and beamed they saw the strange lights at heights much higher than lightning storms. Over time, many researchers entered the subject. Two of them are also in the Negev.
The elves were photographed from space by an ordinary camera. Such multi-wavelength photographs have never been taken.
The enthusiasm for this topic by groups of researchers in the world is tremendous. More than twenty researchers from ten countries will be monitored simultaneously from ground stations around the planet."
b Captain M. From the space and satellite systems branch of the Air Force. He said that the Air Force is mobilizing for the success of the experiment as part of the connection between the Air Force and Space. The project is one of the steps the Air Force has taken to go into space. The main part of the project is photographing aerosols by a multispectral camera.
A few words about the space shuttle - launched at 81 million dollars per flight, weight 300 tons and two thousand tons of fuel.
Lifting weight 25 tons.
Thousands of workers on each flight. Technical, operational, academic aspect so that we succeed in the limited time we have in space to achieve all the goals. NASA's meticulousness and attention to detail in each and every tag along the way.
The process of launching the shuttle takes eight minutes and immediately after that it is at an altitude of 270 kilometers and makes direction change maneuvers until the return time. This is an automatic process. The pilots will only intervene in the event of a malfunction.
When we arrived in the US to give a briefing to the astronauts about the experiment, they were enthusiastic. Our experiment is much more complex and therefore very interesting. It combines viewing outside and operating the system in real time. Except for Laurel, all the astronauts will participate in the experiment.
In the parent space are all the experiments that are supposed to deal with the microgravity field.
The bridge and our experiment on it also includes other remote sensing experiments - the solar constant and communication. The shuttle reaches above the dust storm as its trajectory takes it there. The astronaut can point the camera left and right. It has two cameras, one accurate and the other a normal video camera.
The information is passed down immediately to be analyzed for the next time. We need to get real time weather forecast whether there will be a dust storm or not. Then we need to confirm the plane's flight path in coordination with airports and air traffic controllers, know what the lighting conditions are, direct the shuttle so that it can turn to that area.
In addition, we need to receive a lot of additional data, such as day and night, the shuttle route, the areas that are areas of interest - we have 2 of these - in West Africa and in the Middle East and additional satellites. All the data should be checked for each route separately and everything should also match.
The astronaut's time is timed to a 5 minute separation.
During the flight we will operate two websites with regular updates, the Air Force website WWW.IAF.ORG.IL and the Tel Aviv University website WWW.TAU.AC.IL
We will provide regular updates - with photos and reports.
The CEO of the Israel Space Agency, Avi Har Even, said in response to journalists' questions that the project lasted five years in the State of Israel and investments were close to 2 million dollars from various sources - most of the money did not come from Israel.
"It's not like the Israeli government allocated a package to the space sector and decided what to do. It was also not an alternative to Levi. The case was - we started a project and then we 'poured' money from state sources. Many bodies responded to this for scientific or Zionist reasons. It is a fact that the project received cooperation from all over the world from the Far East, Africa, Europe. Many countries joined.
And this is also national pride: China is making efforts to send a man into space.
There is no need to say what the consequences are for technology and the image of the country and the willingness of people to buy high-tech from a country that makes news in space. The money went to purchase the camera and salaries for the researchers. For comparison, NASA spends 12 million dollars to train an astronaut of Ramon's type (payload specialist).
In response to the question why the Air Force man was chosen, Har-Evan said: When we received the approval, it turns out that NASA's list of criteria for sorting is very difficult. Our annual budget is a few minutes of NASA's annual budget. We didn't have the option to wire to Maine. We turned to the Air Force. It has a huge pool of people who meet most of NASA's criteria. The cost of his stay is the contribution of the security system.
More details from the press conference are provided by Maariv's scientific reporter, Alex Doron, who was also present at the event
The hunt for the dust and the lightning
These are the four experiments "Madex" - for the study of the dust particles in the scientific Mediterranean Sea designed in Israel, which will be carried out by Col. Ilan Ramon during his flight in space
Alex Doron
Col. Ilan Ramon is supposed to perform four Israeli scientific experiments, during his 16 days in space, on the "Columbia" shuttle. The departure was scheduled for this Thursday, January 16.
In total, the seven shuttle astronauts were assigned 80 different experiments. Top priority, as usual, will be the biological-medical experiments for NASA and related to the body's behavior in zero-gravity conditions. Experiments on fuels, remote sensing, and communication will also be conducted.
The Israeli experiments were given first priority over others, including Japanese ones (behavior/growth of cobwebs in space). The Israeli experiments, for Tel Aviv University, will be:
* Measurement and observation of the dust particles in the atmosphere.
* Observations of "sprites" - mysterious flashes of light, "sprites", that appear above lightning storms, 90-20 km above the earth.
* Measurements in "oblique visibility" from space, of targets on Earth.
* Measuring the reflection of solar radiation from the surface of the sea, into space.
In addition, Ramon will supervise a student experiment in growing colored crystals in space (their growth tendency, upwards), which will be done under the supervision of a Technion scientist.
The studies on the dust particles and the flashes of light will be done simultaneously from space - using special equipment and two multispectral cameras operating at several wavelengths - and at the same time from a twin-engine research plane during its flights over the Mediterranean Sea, while synchronizing with the shuttle, when it passes over (270 km from Earth) same area. The measurements and photographs from space will be compared with those collected from the plane and with data from two American research satellites. In this way, rich information will be accumulated from many angles.
The research on the dust particles (which make up about 50-40% of the composition of the air) will provide a better understanding of their influence on the climate and weather (clouds, rainfall amounts); distribution and spread of viruses and respiratory diseases; The effect on plankton and coral reefs. The dust storms, which originate in the center of the Sahara, affect the weather in our region, but also the eastern United States and global warming. It was discovered that in interaction with the atmosphere their chemical composition changes. It is not clear why. The experiment will measure the composition, size and effect of the particles on the radiation, also from the optical aspect.
Since there is little chance of "serious" dust storms in January, observations of "elves" will also be made during the flight. The phenomenon was discovered in 1989 by accident. These are strange colored flashes of light, above clouds and lightning storms. At any given moment, 2000 such flashes "emerge", 100 per second.
The photographs of the flashes from the shuttle will be compared with data from ground electromagnetic measurement stations, in the Negev.
The experiment dealing with "oblique visibility" will be carried out by the entire shuttle crew when, looking out of the window, according to a set schedule, they will identify 15 targets on Earth (lake, island, gulf) and through calculations regarding the point where each target was first sighted until it disappeared from sight, a theory will be built on the innovative subject.
It will also measure the reflection of the sun's radiation (and the moon, at night) from the surface of the sea and the data from space will be compared to those collected by the small plane during its flight at a height of only 40-30 meters above the sea.
"Many doctorates will be written based on these experiments," says Tel Aviv University.
