Space Physics Research & Development

ASTRA’s world class modeling capabilities include two global first-principles fully-coupled ionosphere-thermosphere models, one for Earth ( TIME-GCM ) and one for Mars ( ASPEN-Mars ). In addition, ASTRA also uses IRI , MSIS , radio raytracing packages , and trajectory analysis models.

ASTRA routinely runs two data assimilation models. The AMIE (Assimilative Mapping of Ionospheric Electrodynamics) model, ingests electrodynamics data from a wide range of sources to produce a realistic representation of the high latitude electrodynamic state for a given time. IDA4D is a procedure which combines model output with actual measurement data and organizes the data into spatial maps of electron density via an objective analysis technique.

At the center of ASTRA's research is high quality data analysis on a wide range of data sets, including neutral and electron density data from the TIMED, GRACE, and CHAMP satellites. ASTRA is also involved in the data processing and analysis of doppler shift data (from TIDDBIT ) for the study of TIDs. We are also working with Field Aligned Current data to better understand magnetosphere ionosphere coupling.

ASTRA is involved in the development of various kinds of instrumentation including HF radars, HF radio and GPS systems, and satellite remote sensing. These systems are being used to understand and specify the ionosphere and thermosphere.

ASTRA is using the TIDDBIT (Traveling Ionospheric Disturbance Detector Built in Texas) radar to investigate the sources, propagation and dissipation of gravity waves, and their effects on the ionosphere.

ASTRA is analyzing data from several Mars satellite missions, including Mars Global Surveyor , Mars Pathfinder , Viking , and Mars Odyssey .