UCL DEPARTMENT OF SPACE & CLIMATE PHYSICS

Dr. Colin Forsyth visited Rockwood School in Andover to talk to their Year 5 and Year 6 pupils about sending landers to Mars. The pupils learned what it takes to get to Mars and then had the opportunity to build and test their own Mars landers.

Dr. Colin Forsyth was invited to speak at the Radio Society of Great Britain's annual convention near Milton Keynes. Colin's talk explored the effects of the Sun, space weather and geomagnetic activity on radio wave propagation.

Profs. Chris Owen and Andrew Fazakerley and Dr. Colin Forsyth attended the joint Cluster-THEMIS workshop held at LASP in Boulder from 1st-5th October. This was the third dedicated workshop bringing the Cluster and THEMIS communities together. Colin gave an invited talk exploring multi-spacecraft observations of the auroral acceleration region and Andrew presented an update on the status of the PEACE instruments and operations at the Cluster SPG.

Dr. Colin Forsyth was invited to speak at the Dorking and District Radio Society . Colin's talk explored the effects of the Sun, space weather and geomagnetic activity on radio wave propagation.

Drs. Colin Forsyth and Andrew Walsh exhibited the Cluster: Aurora Explorer stand at this year's British Science Festival in Aberdeen. Along with colleagues from the University of Leicester and Imperial College, they discussed how Cluster is bringing new insights into our understanding of the aurora with members of the public as part of the British Astronomical Association's program of events at the festival. 

Dr. Colin Forsyth was invited to speak at the Newbury and District Amateur Radio club. Colin's talk explored the effects of the Sun, space weather and geomagnetic activity on radio wave propagation.

Dr. Colin Forsyth and Mr. Roger Duthie attended the EGU General Assembly in Vienna between 23rd and 27th April. Roger presented a poster on multi-spacecraft observations of bursty bulk flows and their associated dipolarizations. Colin gave an invited talk on multi-spacecraft observations of the auroral acceleration region.

Prof. Chris Owen and Prof. Andrew Fazakerley attended the National Astronomy Meeting in Manchester along with Dr. Colin Forsyth and Dr. Andrew Walsh. All four presented work from the Space Plasma Physics group including new work on auroral physics and the structure of Earth's magnetotail, as well as the upcoming ESA missions SWARM and Solar Orbiter.

Members of MSSL's PI team for the Solar Orbiter SWA investigation went to Toulouse to meet with consortium colleagues from France, Italy and the USA at the 10th SWA team meeting.  Latest developments of the SWA hardware were reviewed, together with the status of the consortium as it heads towards ESA's formal 'Preliminary Design Review' which will occur in mid-May 2012.  Chris Owen (SWA Principal Investigator), Chris Brockley-Blatt (SWA Project manager), Barry hancock (SWA Systems Engineer) and Dhiren Kataria (SWA Instrument Scientist) represented MSSL at the meeting.

Members of MSSL's PI team for the Solar Orbiter SWA investigation went to ESTEC to support the 9th Science Working Team meeting and the Science Operations Working Group for the mission.  In the first full SWT since the formal selection of the mission by ESA, information on the latest developments of the mission and the instruments were exchanged between the project and all 10 instrument teams.  The assembled scientists also engaged in a preliminary science planning exercise to study how the combined payloads may be operated during the early orbits of the mission following launch in January 2017.  A number of technical splinter meetings were also held.  Chris Owen (SWA Principal Investigator) and Barry Hancock (SWA Systems Engineer) represented MSSL at the meeting.