January 27, 2025, Samantha Kenyon, Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech
Research Assistant Professor, Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech
4:00 p.m.
190 Goodwin Hall
"Space-Based Instrumentation and Technology Development for Atmospheric Science"
Abstract: Humanity has an increasing dependence on space-based technologies for things such as weather data, global navigation, and communications, which are greatly affected by Earth’s atmosphere. Satellites in low-earth orbit decay due to atmospheric drag. Additionally, the quality of communications to and from satellites are dependent on the density and behavior of the atmosphere. We also rely on the vitality of the ozone layer for health; it protects us from harmful deep-UV radiation from the sun. This talk will address two gaps in our current understanding of atmospheric dynamics, and instrumentation currently being developed to address the gaps. (1) Due to the absence of sunlight, nitric oxide in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere builds up during the polar winter, which is known to destroy the ozone layer. Technology development has been undertaken for both sounding rocket experiments as well as a proposed Cube Satellite experiment to perform UV spectroscopy to measure nitric oxide via stellar occultation. The upcoming sounding rocket experiment will be discussed. In addition, the work being done to space qualify an Electron-Multiplying CCD (EMCCD) camera in a CubeSat form factor for stellar occultation will be discussed. (2) An accurate measurement of atmospheric drag is important for predicting satellite positions in low-earth orbit for space domain awareness (SDA). Precision inertial sensors that have previously been used on earth geodesy missions such as the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) consist of a free-floating test mass used to precisely measure and remove atmospheric drag effects on the gravity measurement. However, inertial sensors similar in design can also be used to measure atmospheric drag directly. A discussion of the state of the art and initial feasibility studies to miniaturize precision inertial sensors to measure atmospheric drag will be discussed.
Bio: Samantha Parry Kenyon is a research assistant professor in the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech. She is a member of the Center for Space Science and Engineering at Virginia Tech (Space@VT) and an affiliate faculty member in the Virginia Tech National Security Institute (VT-NSI). Her research focuses on developing space instrumentation for both science and defense-focused missions, designing and testing satellite hardware, and developing space-based networking and optical communication systems. She has worked on hardware development for multiple missions, including the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), the CubeSat Laser Infrared CrosslinK (CLICK), the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), and the Europa Lander concept. She holds M.S. (2018) and Ph.D. (2021) degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Florida, and a B.S. in mechanical engineering (2012) from Grove City College. She was selected to participate in Aerospace Corporation’s UPLIFT seminar series, has been featured as an early career spotlight in the NASA Heliophysics Technology 2023 Annual Report, and is an AIAA and AAS member.