{"id":3235,"date":"2007-02-11T13:39:57","date_gmt":"2007-02-11T19:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/?p=3235"},"modified":"2013-06-18T15:04:55","modified_gmt":"2013-06-18T20:04:55","slug":"monthly-news-summary-february-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/articles\/3235","title":{"rendered":"Monthly News Summary – February 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"

New instrument arrives<\/strong><\/p>\n

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SSEC\u2019s Dave Turner works on the new radiometer obtained through a Major Research Instrument grant from the National Science Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

One of SSEC\u2019s new instruments to gather information about the Earth\u2019s atmosphere arrived in early February. This instrument, a microwave radiometer (MWR), is particularly useful for creating vertical temperature and water vapor profiles of the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

SSEC procured this and two other instruments through a Major Research Instrument grant from the\u00a0National Science Foundation<\/a>. A lidar and a second radiometer will arrive in the next few months. The second MWR will gather data in three bands, rather than the standard two, making it more sensitive to the amount of liquid water in the atmosphere. SSEC\u2019s enhanced instrument suite will allow researchers to gather many types of data and to validate instruments that take the same types of measurements.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Leftover gold from satellite project sells; proceeds to support research<\/strong><\/p>\n

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SSEC sold the gold leftover from a space flight hardware project to fund remote sensing research.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

1,600 gold threads, each thinner than one uncooked spaghetti noodle, formed the insides of the beer can-sized component in a space-bound refrigerator. The University of Wisconsin-Madison center responsible for this unit recently sold the leftover gold to fund remote sensing research.<\/p>\n

UW-Madison\u2019s Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) sold the gold for $8,001 in a UW online auction that ended on February 5. Meant to fly into outer space, the gold will instead contribute to research that enhances the understanding of not only the Earth\u2019s atmosphere but those of other planets as well.<\/p>\n

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SSEC engineers devised a way to prevent the 1600 gold wires from touching.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Initially, SSEC purchased the spool of gold for an instrument slated for flight aboard a\u00a0satellite built by NASA and the Japanese Space Agency<\/a>. SSEC engineers were asked to build a subsystem of a refrigerator capable of cooling the satellite\u2019s x-ray detectors to less than the temperature of space. The detectors needed to stay cold enough to sense the heat generated by one x-ray photon. One component of the subsystem consisted of 1,600 gold threads individually stretched to, without touching, form a 7-inch cylinder with a diameter close to that of a beer can.<\/p>\n