Space Experiment

Spectroscopy, Climate and Habitability from Orbital Measurement of Earthshine

Latest News Latest News 17th September Well the final proposal has been given in. I think it turned out rather well, so good job everyone! Now it's all in the hands of the judging panel, lets hope they like it. Roll on the 3rd October........ Latest News 21st August The final proposal is now being written. Final Proposal Latest News 15th July Following the recent visit to SSTL, everyone has been busy discussing the proposal and finshing ideas to correct some design flaws. Each design flaw is being addressed in individual threads on the Space Experiment private board. Yesterday our poster was displayed at Farnborough International Airshow see the blog entry for more information! Latest News 30th March The Schome team has been chosen as one of 6 finalists to develop their ideas further with Surrey Satellite Ltd!!!! WHAT AN ACHIEVEMENT! This will involve at least one trip to the company to meet engineers and discuss how to improve the experiment. We then have to adjust our proposal to meet their requirements for the new deadline (August). In September one of the six finalists will be chosen as the winner of the competition and the chosen experiment will be built and launched! We are one step closer to "Schome in Space"! In order to get a date for when we can visit Surrey Satellite, please mark off the dates you can't make here. Currently, the best dates seem to be 19th-29th June and 20th-25th July. Background The space team on Schome Park developed a proposal to launch a real-life satellite to observe the spectrum of the Earth from Earthshine and determine what makes it suitable for supporting life (i.e. presence of water, oxygen etc). Download a pdf version of the proposal from here The findings from this mission can be related to the findings from future missions to planets outside our solar system (exoplanets), using the Earthshine findings as a reference and the findings can be used to create a model of the potential for the development of life on an exoplanet (using the life markers found in the Earth’s spectrum). The Proposal is coming along with leaps and bounds! The poll closed on the name, it is officially called: SCHOME: Spectroscopy, Climate and Habitability from Orbital Measurement of Earthshine. Experiment name being discussed here Latest logos and other information compiled here! Next meeting 18th February in the Japanese Garden at 7:30pm. --Beccaw 13:12, 18 February 2008 (GMT) Next meeting 11th February! --Beccaw 14:15, 8 February 2008 (GMT) work in progress --Beccaw 20:24 4 February 2008 (GMT) Next meeting 4th February! --Beccaw 10:33, 1 February 2008 (GMT) New experiment is added to the Poll, you can change your vote if you want to.... --Beccaw 17:45, 31 January 2008 (GMT) Poll now up to vote on which idea we should develop over the next couple of weeks.[1] --Beccaw 11:34, 30 January 2008 (GMT) About the Space Experiment Competition In December, the British National Space Centre and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd announced a competition open to UK students 14 - 18 years old to design a sensor or experiment to fly on a satellite [2]. The satellite will fly in low Earth orbit. The experiment has a max weight of 1kg and will have a development and build budget of no more than £100,000. The winning propsal will be developed by Surrey Satellite engineers and actually launched in 2010! I posted the suggestion of a schome entry on the forum [3]. Although the "official" entry must come from uk students aged 14-18 it is still something Schomers outside the UK and those under 14 can contribute to if they wish. We can acknowledge a contribution by the Schome Community to get around this :P

Initial Proposals On the forum thread the following experiments were proposed by various members of the Schome community: (1) Investigate the accuracy of theories involving modified gravity as compared to dark matter. (2) Stick a radiation sensor up there and have a look at stuff with the aurora borialis. (3) Look into some dark matter or antimatter. (4) Studying stuff on Earth e.g. ozone layer, pollution clouds, weather patterns, % global ice cover at the poles, algal blooms in the ocean etc etc thermal properties of the Earth. (5) Investigate global warming and the ozone hole and the atmosphere. (Objection: this is already being done] (6) Check global ice levels, temperature and ozone levels. [Objection: difficult to check depth of ice from the air.] (7) Detect and track space debris. [Objection: could you distinguish between natural and artificial objects?] (8) Cool Sensor to find out how thick the ozone layer is. Team voted for an experiment to measure Earthshine Deadlines 3rd October - IAC, Glasgow where the competition winner will be announced. 12th September - Final Submission Final proposal must be emailed to SSTL 14th July - trip to Farnborough Airshow to present a poster on the Earthshine experiment. 25th June - trip to the OU and SSTL to meet engineers and get feedback about our proposal. 28th February - initial deadline for proposals.... What they want - a 5 page word document emailed to them. Proposal document should contain the following, though not necessarily in this order: Introduction to who the team are - highlight the uniqueness of the Schome team....we aren't all teachers and students at one school! Scientific background to the problem the sensor or experiment will address - why can it not be done from the ground? Basic description and design - maybe include a schematic/diagram of initial suggestion. What are the key components? What is being measured? How does the measurement translate to useful data? How is the data going to be used - I have been told this is one of the primary judging criteria..... who will use this data? how will it be used? Fox suggested on the forum thread - is there a way for some of the data to be used in Schome/SL - hence giving a unique angle to our proposal. Poster ideas deadline - 20th May....please upload your ideas here poster ideas Final poster must be ready for print by the 28th May

The Team Technomancer SParker Gaea SParker Faji Bing Mars Schomer Kali Schomer Explo Schomer Topper Schomer Baso Schomer Marko Schomer Decimus Schomer

The Team

We are looking for Schomers to take part in this group project and meet new people on the island. Sparkers interested are also welcome to contribute their knowledge and experience. The team needs Schomers:

• enthusiastic about building/designing stuff (this shouldn't be a problem bearing in mind the island prim count!!!!)
• that are interested in science and conducting experiments to help come up with a space experiment
• to make schematics/diagrams of the proposed design - any Schomers good at graphic design out there?!
• that actually know web stuff to make this page look professional and kept up to date (clearly my ability is somewhat limiting!!!!)
• to conduct web research into current space experiment
• to come up with a team name, brand and logo. Also a name for the experiment! Again help from those good at art/graphics desing would be fab for the logo!!!!

Current team members:
Kali Schomer - proposal Introduction: what is the Schome community etc. Future/present exoplanet missions. Poster section: applications of our instrument/rationale.
Topper Schomer: Poster introduction
Explo Schomer - Proposal: Spectral signatures of key molecules...what will we be looking for and why?
Marko Schomer - Proposal: Earthshine spectrum - What is it, what does it mean.
Decimus Schomer - technical drawing of Earthshine, contribution to rationale. Poster: what we will measure.
Baso Schomer - Logo ideas? Poster section: instrumentation.
Spiral Schome - Postr section: instrumentation.
KitKatKid Schomer - participant in discussions. Marsbar9 Schomer - Space Experiment wiki page design. Logo ideas. Poster design, proposal template. (anyone else add your name here)
Supporting staff:
Gaea Sparker - can advise on Earth sciences and chemistry, space mission protocols, has experience of designing experiments for space flight.
Faji Bing - can advise on physics, astrophysics and astronomy.
Technomancer SParker - our very own exoplanet expert!
(any other staff wanting to get involved add your name here including areas you can contribute to)

Proposed Logos