From: West Virginia University Today
January
21, 2022 -- The space economy is on track to be valued at a trillion dollars by
the end of 2030, according to Piyush Mehta, assistant professor of mechanical
and aerospace engineering at West Virginia University. Yet space
assets–equipment that is placed in space such as navigation, weather and
communication satellites that serve our society daily–are threatened by space
debris.
According to NASA, it is estimated that
millions of pieces of space debris orbit around Earth. A major portion of these
debris objects as well as active satellites reside in the low Earth orbit
region, at altitudes between 200 and 1000 km.
“In low Earth orbit, our ability to
safeguard these space assets depends on modeling of the aerodynamic forces
acting on the satellites, specifically satellite drag. The drag force acting on
a satellite is affected by various physical parameters, however, the most crucial
and uncertain are the drag coefficient and mass density,” Mehta said.
Mehta explained that because of the
interconnectedness of the two parameters, one of them is held constant,
typically the drag coefficient, while the other is investigated. However, Mehta
said this causes inconsistencies or inaccuracies in our understanding of the
mass density variability in the upper atmosphere or thermosphere.
Recently, Mehta earned the prestigious
Faculty Early Career Development, or CAREER, Award from the National Science
Foundation to alleviate this inconsistency and develop a state-of-the-art
model of thermosphere mass density, which will strengthen researchers
understanding, modeling and forecasting of the upper atmosphere
variability.
“We will achieve this by not assuming
the drag coefficient to be a constant but gaining statistical insights into the
physical process that drives changes in drag coefficient, specifically the
gas-surface interactions that describe the way energy and momentum are
exchanged between the atmosphere and the satellite.” Mehta said. “The CAREER
Award will alleviate this inconsistency through an innovative methodology that
combines artificial intelligence and statistical estimation techniques. This is
a very niche domain with only a handful of research groups around the world
tackling the problem.”
Mehta leads a collaborative effort
amongst some of these groups on satellite drag coefficient modeling under the
International Space Weather Action Teams initiative.
Through this highly competitive award,
Mehta will receive $640,655 in funding over five years to advance this research
project, while also developing plans to strengthen the space science curriculum
at WVU.
The Statler College of Engineering and
Mineral Resources plans to develop a new graduate course, space weather and
space systems, that will be offered yearly in the Department of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering. Along with the new course, the College plans to expand
outreach efforts through hands-on activities for K-12 schools across the
state.
“Outreach efforts will establish
learning modules and a hands-on build–a-satellite activity in collaboration
with the West Virginia Science Public Outreach Team,” Mehta said. “Educational
and outreach activities will serve to excite and train the next-generation
workforce in space sciences and artificial intelligence.”
The NSF’s CAREER program supports junior
faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding
research, excellent education and the integration of education and research
within the context of their mission organizations.
“Dr. Mehta’s cross-cutting research lies
at the intersection of atmospheric sciences, space systems engineering and
machine learning,” said Jason Gross, associate professor and interim chair of
mechanical and aerospace engineering, and associate chair for research at the
Statler College. “With the continued rapid increase of manmade satellites in
low Earth orbit, his work toward improved orbital decay prediction becomes more
important for the future of space environment sustainability with each passing
day. His lab is at the forefront of this important field, and we are proud that
he is on our faculty.”
No comments:
Post a Comment