CLASP Project #1: SunRISE Ground Radio Lab (GRL)
Faculty Mentor: Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti, [email protected]
Prerequisites:
- Strong programming and statistics background, Independence
Project Description: The SunRISE Ground Radio Lab (GRL) engages citizen science using a multi-frequency radio telescope to observe radio emissions from Jupiter, the Sun, the Milky Way Galaxy, and Earth. The SunRISE GRL aims to complement SunRISE’s measurements in space, and to engage the public and educate the next generations of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) scholars through hands-on citizen science campaigns. The SunRISE GRL is seeking a student to contribute to developing a date pipeline and analyzing radio measurements, from more than a dozen radio antennas deployed at high schools nationwide.
Research Mode: In Lab
CLASP Project #2: Space Debris Identification and Tracking (SINTRA)
Faculty Mentor: Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti, [email protected]
Prerequisites:
- Strong programming and statistics background, Independence
Project Description: Roughly 70% of the objects orbiting the Earth are classified as mission-ending space debris. This number only represents currently-trackable space debris, which are larger than 10 cm in diameter. Current capabilities fall short when it comes to smaller debris, despite their potential to cause substantial damage to spacecraft. NASA estimates the existence of over 100 million non-trackable, mission-threatening space debris greater than 1 mm encircling the Earth. This Space Debris Identification and Tracking (SINTRA) project aims to improve by 10,000 times our space debris detection capability to include the size range of lethal non-trackable space debris (10μm-10mm) using ground-based radars to detect non-thermal electromagnetic (NTEM) radiation. Therefore, the SINTRA project is seeking a student to contribute to ground-based radar data collection, processing, and analysis.
Research Mode: In Lab
CLASP Project #3: Magnetic switchbacks in Parker Solar Probe (PSP) and Solar Orbiter (SolO)
Faculty Mentor: Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti, [email protected]
Prerequisites:
- Strong programming and physics background, Independence
Project Description: Parker Solar Probe (PSP) is the closest object ever launched to our Sun. Our project is seeking an intern to contribute to investigating switchback evolution using magnetic and plasma measurements aboard PSP and Solar Orbiter. The intern will help with collecting, processings and analyzing data, contribute to preparing manuscripts for publication, as well as for presentations at international conferences.
Research Mode: In Lab
CLASP Project #4: Active Solar Tracking in Three-Dimensional Solar Modules
Faculty Mentor: Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti, [email protected]
Prerequisites:
- Strong prototyping and microcontroller (Arduino, etc.) background, Independence
Project Description: The University of Michigan’s patented 3D photovoltaics are compact, they collect and convert direct and reflected light vertically, thereby reducing installation footprint. The project is seeking a student to assist with designing, developing, and testing an intelligent solar tracking system to maximize energy output of a 3D solar module by actively tracking the Sun in the Sky throughout a day and in the course of a year. The project involves first preparing a trade study of single and dual-axis tracking mechanisms, including materials, complexity, and cost, in order to identify an economically-scalable tracking system. The next step is to simulate, design, develop, and test the scalable tracking system. To achieve this, the student will be equipped with microcontrollers (Arduino, etc.) and hardware. The intern will conclude the project by delivering prototypes of the proposed scalable tracking systems. The intern will regularly collaborate with and report to a team of business and technical stakeholders.
Research Mode: In Lab
CLaSP Project #5: Analysis of small- to mesoscale solar wind structures at L1
Faculty Mentor: Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti, [email protected]
Prerequisites:
- Strong programming and physics background, Independence
Project Description: The University of Michigan’s Space Weather Investigation Frontier (SWIFT) mission aims at making significant discoveries on the three-dimensional structures and dynamics of heliospheric structures that drive space weather. The SWIFT mission architecture consists of a sailcraft hub sampling the upstream solar wind at sub-Lagrange point (L1) and three identical probes at L1 to provide continuous observations of small- to mesoscale solar wind structures along the Sun-Earth-line. The constellation of probes will further enhance existing L1 assets’ capabilities (IMAP, ACE, WIND and DSCOVR) by providing upstream measurements for multi-scale analyses. The team is seeking an intern to help with analyzing several decades of in-situ solar wind observations to answer key questions on the 3D structures and dynamics of small- to mesoscale solar wind structures along the Sun-Earth-line. The intern will collaborate with a team of graduate students and postdocs. The intern will help with collecting, processings and analyzing data, contribute to preparing manuscripts for publication, as well as for presentations at international conferences.
Research Mode: In Lab
CLASP Project #6: Energy Transfer through the Earth’s Magnetopause to Quantify Solar Wind – Magnetosphere Coupling
Faculty Mentor: Tuija Pulkkinen, [email protected], Timothy Keebler, [email protected]
Prerequisites:
- Data analysis and programming skills, especially in Python, will be useful for this experience, but are not strictly required.
Project Description: Earth’s magnetic field interacts with the solar wind at a boundary called the magnetopause,where energy transfer impacts the magnetic and plasma environments of the Earth system. The size of the magnetopause and spatial extent make measurements of energy transfer challenging, especially in the global scale necessary to understand the coupled solar wind-magnetosphere system. Energy transfer occurs via a process called magnetic reconnection, which is highly-variable in space and time within the magnetopause. The recent Magnetosphere Multiscale (MMS) mission contains instrumentation that can measure plasma properties in-situ when crossing the magnetopause with sufficient quality to study reconnection and the associated energy flow. With over 4,000 magnetopause crossings identified in the MMS observations, sufficient data exists to study magnetopause reconnection in great detail.
This project will use magnetopause crossing data from the MMS mission to identify which high-resolution observations occur near reconnection sites. After identification, we can relate reconnection rates to magnetopause boundary motion, looking for modulation predicted by numerical models. In addition to this mentored research, the student will have the opportunity to interact with a diverse research group, gaining breadth of experience in magnetospheric physics. Outcomes of this project include presentation in the SURE program, with potential for co-authorship on peer-reviewed publication depending on research results.
Research Mode: In Lab/Hybrid