MIT
Reports to the President 1994-95
The Center for Space Research (CSR) conducts an active program of research in
astronomy, space science, and related technology, with emphasis on experimental
and theoretical investigations in support of various National Aeronautical and
Space Administration (NASA) flight missions. Specific areas of research
include gravity-wave, X-ray, optical, radio, and radar astronomy; theoretical
and experimental space plasma physics; planetary surfaces and atmospheres; and
the space life sciences. CSR is heavily involved in the following ongoing or
upcoming NASA missions: Voyager, the Magellan Venus Radar Mapper mission, the
Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), the Japanese-US ASCA satellite, the Advanced
X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), the X-ray Timing Explorer (XTE), the Space
Transportation System (Shuttle) Spacelab series, and an investigation of
Earth's plasma environment as part of the International Solar Terrestrial
Physics Program (ISTP). The High-Energy-Transient Experiment (HETE), is a
small, inexpensive satellite under CSR's direct control. CSR also supports
investigators in the Space Engineering Research Center and administers a
program of theoretical astrophysics and of optical observations carried out at
the Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT (MDM) Observatory. Much of the research carried out
in CSR is reported by the following departments: Physics, Earth Atmospheric
& Planetary Sciences, and Aeronautics & Astronautics.
CSR has been participating in the operations planning, calibration, and data
analysis of ASCA, which was launched in 1993. The CSR provided CCD X-ray
detectors (developed in collaboration with Lincoln Laboratory) continue to
operate well and are returning spectrally resolved images of unprecedented
quality. MIT personnel are participating in numerous astronomical projects,
including studies of the diffuse X-ray background, supernova remnants, clusters
of galaxies and distant quasars. The MIT X-ray group also continues its
observational program using the German ROSAT X-ray telescope, as well as
archival studies of galactic and extragalactic objects from previous US,
Japanese and European X-ray missions.
The XTE instrumentation is being readied for launch in August 1995. XTE will
study the time variability of celestial X-ray sources at time scales ranging
from tens of microseconds to years over energies of 2-100 keV. HETE, which
will search for bright transient emissions from astronomical objects over a
very broad energy interval from the UV to gamma rays, will be launched in late
1995 or early 1996. AXAF is a major NASA mission of the "great observatory"
series, scheduled for launch in 1998. Two of the four major instruments being
developed at MIT, the High-Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer and the
AXAF Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) Imaging Spectrometer, have passed the major
milestone of Preliminary Design Review.
MDM is located on Kitt Peak near Tucson, Arizona, where two telescopes, 1.3 m
and 2.4 m in diameter, are operated jointly by the University of Michigan,
Dartmouth College and MIT. A new, very large format CCD camera was
commissioned by MIT for the observatory. Active projects at MDM include
studies of the cosmic distance scale, gravitational lenses, detection of
galaxies at very high redshifts, mapping the structure of the Milky Way and the
classification of asteroids.
Study of the properties of solar wind plasma at large distances from the Sun
continues with Voyager 2, which is on its way out of the solar system. The
launch of the WIND spacecraft, which will carries a plasma cup built at CSR, is
part of an international program to study the solar wind and its interaction
with the earth's magnetosphere. The MIT instrument is working flawlessly. The
Center of Excellence in Theoretical Geo/Cosmo Plasma Physics continues to
compare the apparently excellent agreement between theoretical models of
ionospheric plasma phenomena and the recent data obtained from the Freja,
Viking satellites, and TOPAZ rocket series.
The Magellan mission radar experiment was turned off following its successful
mapping of the entire surface of Venus at a resolution approaching 100 m.
Analysis of the radiometer data continues, with special emphasis on the
surprising discovery of unusually high reflectivity regions of unknown
composition on the planetary surface.
The Laser-Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), a joint project
of Caltech and MIT to develop and construct two 4km baseline gravitational wave
interferometers in the continental United States to operate in concert with
interferometers in Europe, continues research and development. Ground breaking
at the Washington state site occurred last year and is now taking place at the
Louisiana site. Current work on the MIT 5m interferometer centers on
understanding and controlling the sources of phase noise and investigating
active seismic isolation control systems.
Results of more than a dozen ground and flight experiments conducted on the
Space Life Sciences 2 Spacelab mission were presented by the Man Vehicle Lab at
scientific meetings in September and April, and have been submitted for
publication. An experiment selected for the 1998 "Neurolab" mission is now
entering the development phase. Ground based research on human spatial
orientation in real and virtual environments, and tactile cueing systems
continues. A new FAA sponsored project on cockpit displays for GPS instrument
approaches is underway, in collaboration with the DOT Volpe Center in
Cambridge.
Several faculty associated with the Center for Space Research carry out
research programs in theoretical astrophysics. Topics include cosmology and
the inflationary universe scenario, the large scale structure of the universe,
galaxy formation, studies of solar oscillations and the structure of the solar
interior, stellar accretion disks, binary star evolution, physics of active
galactic nuclei, and other topics. For details see the report of the
Astrophysics Division of the Physics Department.
CSR supports spaceflight activities of the Space Engineering Research Center
and of other faculty in Aeronautics and Astronautics. After last year's flight
of the shuttle-based MODE dynamics experiment, its cousin: MACE, the actively
controlled dynamics experiment, flew successfully. Planning and modifications
continue in preparation of another re-flight in support of the US/FSU joint
program in the Mir Space Station.
Claude R. Canizares
MIT
Reports to the President 1994-95