Contact:

Österreichische Akademie der WissenschaftenInstitut für WeltraumforschungSchmiedlstraße 68042 GrazAustria

Tel.: +43/316/4120-400Fax: +43/316/4120-490office.iwf@oeaw.ac.at

www.iwf.oeaw.ac.at

The institute has three departments and is led by three department heads: Prof. Wolfgang Baumjohann, Prof. Helmut O. Rucker, and Prof. Hans Sünkel. Executive director is Prof. Baumjohann.

Scientifically IWF concentrates on space plasma physics, planetary physics and the Earth’s gra-vity field. In the area of instrument develop-ment the emphasis lies on building magneto-meters, satellite potential control systems, as well as antenna calibration and satellite laser ranging.

Presently, IWF is involved in fourteen inter-national space missions. It collaborates parti-cularly with the European Space Agency (ESA), national space agencies in America (NASA), France (CNRS), Japan (JAXA), China (CNSA), and Russia (IKI) as well as more than 100 research institutes worldwide.

The missions cover the determination of the Earth‘s gravity field (GOCE), fleets of satellites in near-Earth space (Cluster, THEMIS, RBSP, MMS, Resonance), observation of the Sun (STEREO), exploration of planets such as Saturn (Cassini), Mars (Yinghuo, ExoMars), Venus (Venus Express), Mercury (BepiColombo) and extrasolar planets (COROT) as well as landing on comets (Rosetta).

The Space Research Institute (Institut für Welt-raumforschung, IWF) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Österreichische Akademie der Wis-senschaften, ÖAW) in Graz focuses on the ex-ploration of the solar system and near-Earth space and on satellite geodesy. With almost 80 staff members from more than a dozen different nationalities it is the Austrian space research institute par excellence.

… takes offPhoto: The Venus Express spacecraft, ESA - C. Carreau

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The four Cluster satellites of ESA (launch in 2000) to investigate the Earth’s magnetosphere, have been delivering novel data from four points in space ever since. IWF was involved in building instruments to regulate the electrostatic charging of the satellites and to measure magnetic and electric fields. Furthermore, the institute is participating in two particle spectrometers.

In 2014, ESA’s Rosetta mission (launch in 2004) will enter into orbit around comet Churyumov-Gerasi-menko and put down a landing module onto its nucleus. Under the leadership of IWF an atomic force microscope was built. It will scan the structure of dust particles of the comet’s coma, with a resolution of one millionth of a millimetre. Furthermore, the institute has built parts of a mass spectrometer, parts of two magnetometers on both orbiter and lander, and participated in developing and building a penetrometer, which will measure the heat conduction and elasticity of the cometary surface.

ESA’s Venus Express satellite (launch in 2005) was built to investigate the atmosphere and ionosphere of our neighbouring planet. IWF built a magneto-meter for this mission, which is in good tradition, since all but two magnetometers aboard spacecraft sent to Venus in the last 25 years have been built in Graz. In addition, the institute participates in an ion spectrometer.

NASA’s STEREO mission (Solar TErrestrial Relations

The NASA Cassini spacecraft (launch in 1997) entered orbit around the ring planet Saturn in 2004. IWF is involved in an instrument, which measures the radio emission in Saturn’s magneto-sphere and lightning phenomena in the planet’s atmosphere.

precision photometry. IWF has developed and built a computer system that will filter out the scientifically interesting images.

THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms, launch in 2006 ) is a NASA mission designed to explore the origin of magnetic storms and auroral phenomena. For this purpose, five micro-satellites fly through different regions of the Earth’s magnetosphere. IWF is part of a collaboration that provides a magnetometer.

ESA’s satellite mission GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer, launch: 2008) will measure the Earth’s gravity field with up-to-now unknown precision. To calculate about 100,000 gravity field parameters from some 100 million observations, the Graz University of Techno-logy and IWF developed specially adapted algo-rithms.

The Chinese Martian probe Yinghuo (launch: 2009) will study the environment of the Red Planet. IWF is involved in the scientific data analysis of the plasma instrument.

Cassini investigates the Lord of the Rings (Photo: JPL/NASA).

In the frame of NASA’s RBSP mission (Radiation Belt Storm Probes, launch: 2012) two satellites will investigate the physical processes, which generate the Earth‘s the radiation belts and cause them to decay. IWF is involved in the electrical and magnetic measurements.

The satellite mission BepiColombo to Mercury (launch: 2013) is a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and ESA. It is the first time that two spacecraft – Magnetospheric and Planetary Orbiter – are simultaneously flying to this innermost planet. IWF participates in the magneto-meters on both spacecraft and in a mass spectro-meter. The institute leads the development of the magnetometer for the Japanese-built orbiter.

The aim of ESA’s ExoMars mission (launch: 2013) is to characterize the biological and meteorological environment on Mars, in preparation for eventual future human exploration of the Red Planet. IWF is responsible for the development of a sensor to measure the electrical properties and the water content of the Martian soil.

COROT in search for new worlds (Photo: CNES / D. Ducros).

Observatory, launch in 2006) will break new ground: Two almost identical spacecraft are observing stereoscopically the dynamical processes on the Sun’s surface and in its surroundings in the optical and radio frequency range. The IWF antenna calibration allows more accurate identification of radio source regions and wave properties.

IWF Graz … is involved in fourteen international space missions

Aurora bands over Quartz Lake, Alaska (Photo: Jan Curtis).

The NASA mission MMS (Magnetosphe-ric MultiScale, launch: 2014) will carry out 3D measurements in the Earth's magneto-sphere, using four identically equipped spacecraft. IWF will take the lead for the spacecraft potential control and partici-pate in the electronbeam instruments and the magnetometers.

Resonance (launch: 2015) is a Russian space mission consisting of four identical spacecraft in specific Earth orbits, sometimes within the same magnetic flux tube. IWF will perform the analysis and calibration of the electric field sensors aboard the satellites.

The COROT mission (COnvection, Rota-tion and planetary Transit, launch in 2006) will look at internal dynamical processes of stars and search for extra-solar planets. The French space tele-scope will investigate thousands of stellarsystems by high-