53rd SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION (SANAE) AND DENEL SPACETEQ SCHOOL OUTREACH PROGRAM

摘要

The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) operates a wide variety of space weather monitoring instruments at the South African Research base, SANAE IV. Each year SANSA sends 2 Overwintering team members who spend 14 months in Antarctica and a Take-Over team consisting of Volunteer Engineers and Scientists for the 3 month Relief voyage to Antarctica. The 53rd Antarctic expedition marked a milestone for SANSA with the commissioning and installation of a new High Frequency Digital Radar system at SANAE IV. The new radar system forms part of the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) an international network of over 30 radars used to monitor the dynamics of space weather. The SANSA team also performed routine maintenance on other equipment used to monitor space weather. Antarctica is the ideal position to conduct space weather research due to the earth's magnetic field lines converging at the South Pole. Monitoring Space weather is important as it impacts many technological systems including satellites, Global Positioning System (GPS), spacecraft orbits, and power distribution and surveillance radar. The Author took part in the 53rd SANAE 3 month relief voyage as a SANSA volunteer engineer. The overall expedition will be presented as well as the post SANAE educational outreach activities.