The first two STCE workshops passed
posted: May 10, 2012
On May 3 and 4, the workshops On-orbit degradation of Solar and Space Weather Instruments - Lesson Learned and Science and Space Weather Opportunities for PROBA2 took place. Both workshops were a big success.
The degradation workshop addressed the interests of people in the field wanted to learn about. The workshop was welcomed by the scientific community and awaited. This workshop gathered almost 60 participants. 15 presentations were given, with 12 - from 6 countries! - dedicated to the degradation of solar space instruments and 3 to ongoing instrument developments. Some more keywords fit the workshop: world-class experts, high quality presentations, interactive discussions with a very enthusiastic audience. All speakers will participate in writing a review paper about the outcome of this workshop. Marie Dominique: I believe that there is a strong wish at the moment to share the lessons learned about degradation. Almost all the space instruments observing the EUV experience degradation, despite the attention paid to cleanliness during their conception. When not enough caution is taken, the effects of degradation can even become dramatic. The subject is becoming a hot topic at the moment, as a few important missions like Solar Orbiter are in preparation. The science and space weather workshop gave the opportunity to share experiences and learn about science done based on SphinX, RESIK, SEM, EVE, SWAP and LYRA, all space based instruments. All of them are impacted by energetic particles. SWAP, LYRA, AIA offer also a new perspective on oscillations/pulsations that appear to be present during flares. PROBA2 opened the door for coronal seismology.

On May 31, a wrap up of these workshops will be presented during the annual meeting. As an appetizer, we will present you the story of PROBA2. The PROBA2 project started as a written document in 2002, got approved, was the subject of many discussions among theoreticians, IT'ers, ingenieurs, scientists, technicians, was build, sent to space end 2009 and is still monitoring the Sun and performing exciting science as you can see in this movie of a spectacular filament eruption on April 20 (click on the picture to see a movie).