Nebula Public Library

There is an urgent need to assess the levels of plastic pollution in the ocean, to allow for future monitoring and determine the efficacy of any remediation put into force. As a consequence, parallel to in situ observations, there is a growing interest in detecting marine debris using remote sensing satellite and UAV imagery. The Marine Remote Sensing Group (MRSG) at the University of the Aegean is one of the few groups worldwide with in-deep experience in developing artificial plastic debris target structures, in different configurations and polymer composition.

For long-term studies, numerical simulations are at the center of predicting the space debris environment of the upcoming decades. In the scope of the study, the authors present the architecture and proof-of-concept results for a numerical simulation capable of modeling the long-term debris evolution over decades with a deterministic conjunction tracking model in contrast to typically employed Monte Carlo methods. For the simulation, an efficient propagator in modern C++ accounting for Earth’s gravitational anomalies, solar radiation pressure, and atmospheric drag was developed.

The main objective of this activity was to develop and demonstrate new techniques which are expected to improve the current state-of-the-art Space Weather forecasting techniques and products related to Space Weather effects for Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) systems in the Arctic, with particular attention to the Greenland area. For this purpose, the activity investigated and tested innovative methods for monitoring and predicting Space Weather impacts on PNT in interested area.

Increased radiation levels, as a result of space weather, has been recognised as an important risk for spacecraft and launcher operations. Recently threshold levels of solar energetic particle (SEP) flux and solar activity have been considered as a baseline criteria for launches. After the launch of Gaia in 2013, the transfer included manoeuvres reliant upon the AOCS star trackers, operating in interplanetary space and whose reliability could be seriously impacted by radiation storms known as Solar Particle Events (SPEs).