Available projects – Solar system physics and space technology (Kiruna)
Instrument design optimization
(master thesis/project work)
IRF is currently developing a new instrument to measure fluxes of particles with positive and negative charge states. The instrument design is based on the Jovian plasma Dynamics and Composition analyzer (JDC). JDC is a part of the Particle Environment Package (PEP) and currently on its way to Jupiter.
The newly designed instrument will be capable of energy resolving particles with both positive and negative charge states in a hemispherical field of view. To achieve this an electrostatic entrance system and energy analyzer are used. Both subsystems and the detector measuring the incoming particles need optimization. For this optimization task we are looking for a student who will be performing ion optical simulations with SIMION®.
The goal of this project is to obtain an optimized design for the instrument and to optimize the already existing simulation code for simulations of the whole instrument.
The project duration is 3-6 months and will require a written project report or master thesis.
Contact person: Philipp Wittmann, Research Engineer, philipp.wittmann@irf.se
Published in April 2024.
High-performance test particle tracing code implementation
This project aims to improve the performance of ion tracing code that has been implemented in the Python language. The ultimate goal is to make the existing code 100x faster. The example approaches/tasks may involve:
- to translate the existing Python code to a compiled language (C, C++, or Rust) to make the simulation faster
- to parallelize the code
- to use GPU for faster ion tracing calculation
The actual tasks may deviate from the above example when a better implementation approach is found. We can then apply the developed tracing code to various planetary environments to understand the ion motions in each system (particularly for Mercury). This may also be a part of the project if time allows.
Lunar Neutral Telescope design optimisation
(master thesis)
IRF will send the Lunar Neutral Telescope (LNT) instrument to the Moon orbit in 2026. Join our team and contribute to developing a flight instrument. The LNT is an Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) instrument onboard the Turkish Lunar Mission to investigate the interaction of space plasma with Lunar environment. The instrument has a capability to resolve the energy and mass of ENAs using an electrostatic energy analysis with a time-of-flight technique. The project is to perform a computer simulation of particle trajectories inside the instrument using SIMION® and to optimise the performance by modifying the design within existing constraints. Results will be directly reflected to the design of the flight instrument. The project duration is ~6 months in full time.
Contact person: Manabu Shimoyama, scientist, manabu@irf.se
Published in January 2024
Retarding potential analyzer design & prototype test
(master thesis/project work)
IRF offers an opportunity to work on the design and prototype testing of Retarding Potential Analyzer (RPA) for future planetary missions. The RPA, or referred to as Faraday cup, is an instrument used to measure the energy distribution of low-energy ions in the planetary ionosphere. The ion energy is discriminated by a potential applied to the retarding grid, while ions passing the grid are detected as a current. By sweeping the regarding voltage, one can obtain the current-voltage characteristics, from which the ion energy distribution as well as plasma parameters such as ion temperature, bulk ion speed and ion density is derived.
These are key parameters for understanding the ionosphere–thermosphere coupling in the upper atmosphere, where the momentum exchange between space and the atmosphere occurs. The SSPT/IRF group in Kiruna together with the RPF/IRF in Uppsala has been developing the RPA for future space missions as the demand to measure such low-energy ions are rapidly increasing. One of the potential applications is M-Matisse, which is one of three candidates for the ESA’s next medium-class science mission to study the solar wind interaction with Martian atmosphere, ionosphere and magnetosphere.
Following the preliminary testing of the RPA prototype, we plan to perform a comprehensive test by changing various parameters such as ion beam conditions and a sensor configuration. Obtained data will be analysed to characterise a response of the sensor with help of computer simulations. Updating the current sensor design based on results from the data analysis is also within the scope of this project.
The project includes part of the following tasks:
- Prototype testing in a vacuum tank with ion beams
- Analysis of experiment data
- Computer simulation of particle ray tracing
- Design optimization of the prototype
- Assembly and testing of the updated prototype
Contact persons: Manabu Shimoyama, manabu@irf.se Yoshifumi Futaana, futaana@irf.se Stas Barabash, stas@irf.se
Published in January 2024
Lunar boomerang: Computer modeling of an innovative technique to study electromagnetic fields at the lunar surface
(M.Sc. project, internship)
The project is to perform computer simulation of particle trajectories at the lunar surface using SIMION (c) package. Particles, ions and electrons, are emitted by an active source on a lunar lander and propagate on distances up to several km affected by electromagnetic forces. Depending on the particle energy, emission direction, and distribution of the field, a fraction of particles return back. Using particle detectors, one can define the particle direction of the arrival and determine the electromagnetic field configuration.
This is a really innovative technique and IRF needs to conduct proof-of-concept simulations. If confirmed, it will open the whole field of active diagnostic of the environment from lunar landers. IRF offers a unique chance to contribute to lunar exploration!
The project is for 4-6 months.
Contact: Xiao-Dong Wang, scientist, wang@irf.se
Published in December 2023
Statistical study of multi-charged oxygen ions from ion mass spectrometer data
(master thesis)
Be part of a creative group of comet plasma scientists. Work with data from the dynamic target comet 67P, visited by the Rosetta spacecraft. Learn to interpret spacecraft data and visualize your results. From the observed ratio of the relative flux between solar wind He²⁺ and charge-exchanged He⁺ one can estimate the water outgassing rate of the cometary nucleus. In a similar way, the observation of solar wind O⁶⁺ and its charge-exchanged product with the comet neutral atmosphere O⁵⁺ may lead us to verify the previous estimate. Both multi-charged oxygen ions are tricky to measure due to their low fluxes ; these are comparable to the instrumental background level.
Thus, statistical methods must be applied in order to test for the presence of such ions, as well as to correct for instrumental effects dominating at these low flux regimes. This project makes use of data from the European Space Agency mission Rosetta to comet 67P. We use primarily data from the ion spectrometer ICA built and developed at IRF in Kiruna.
General description of tasks:
- Programming to process spacecraft data
- Programming to analyze/visualize data
- Interpret the data
- Present the results
Specific tasks:
- Estimate the O⁶⁺/O⁵⁺ flux ratio from ICA data
- Apply statistical hypothesis testing (among others) methods
- Improve the current statistical methods and/or find new better ones!
Requirements:
- Knowledge of programming (python is preferred)
- Interest in space physics
- Interest in statistics/mathematics and learning of new methods
What you will learn:
- Programming for data analysis
- Visualizing data
- Using data analysis tools
- Working with spacecraft data
- Presenting your results
- Get an introduction to cometary plasma physics
- Get an introduction to the research process
Contact person: Romain Canu-Blot, PhD student,romain.canu-blot@irf.se
Published in November 2023
SCOS2000 verification and tooling
(project work) SCOS2000 is a core standard for the description of, but not limited to, telemetry and telecommands. We have implemented a very basic loader/checker library and toolchain to deal with MIB instances, but there are many consistency checks missing. It should also be considered to create a tool chain on top of that loader/checker library to:
- generate C/rust structures for telemetry/telecommands
- parse PUS/DDS packets
Contact person: Programmer Robert Labudda, robert.labudda@irf.se
Published in October 2023
Compression library for embedded systems
(project work) Our instruments can produce significant amounts of data that need to be compressed on-board prior to downlinking. Our current compression implementations are not bad but old. A task would be to research into state of the art compression that’s applicable to resource-restricted environments (embedded systems with real-time constraints). Furthermore such algorithms have to be implemented in C or rust. Even if nothing better exists than what we are using, a dependency free re-implementation (refactoring) is required, following best practices in S/W development, like TDD).
Contact person: Programmer Robert Labudda, robert.labudda@irf.se
Published in October 2023
Rust in space application
(project work) We want to find out what real-time operating systems (RTOS) in the rust programming language exist for embedded systems that might be used in space applications. The open-ended question is not just “does it exist”, but also whether on the driver level implementations exist (maybe even only in ‘unsafe’ scopes) for commonly used protocols like UART, SPI, I²C, SpaceWire. How’s the toolchain for existing RTOS? Are there memory inspection tools, debugging (e.g. support for breakpoints), logging?
Contact person: Programmer Robert Labudda, robert.labudda@irf.se
Published in October 2023
The Spatial structure of a comet magnetosphere
(master thesis)
Be part of a creative group of comet plasma scientists. Work with data from the dynamic target comet 67P, visited by the Rosetta spacecraft. Learn to interpret spacecraft data and visualise your results.
This project makes use of data from the European Space Agency mission Rosetta to comet 67P. We use primarily data from the ion spectrometer ICA built and developed at IRF in Kiruna.
Rosetta followed comet 67P for 2 years. Most of the time the spacecraft was almost sitting still while the comet environment changed around it. On some occasions Rosetta moved within the comet environment in a short time period.
The purpose of this master thesis project is to use such data to better understand the spatial structure of the comet magnetosphere. The ICA instrument measures density and velocity of different ion species. The task is to analyse this data and see how it changes with distance from the nucleus.
General description of tasks:
- Programming to process spacecraft data
- Programming to visualise data
- Interpretation of data
- Presentation of results
Specific tasks:
- Identify suitable Rosetta trajectories
- Find good ways to summarise and visualise the data
- Look for patterns in the data
- Compare with other data
Requirements:
- Basic knowledge of programming
- Interest in space physics
What you will learn:
- Programming for data analysis
- Visualising data
- Using data analysis tools
- Working with spacecraft data
- Presenting your results
- Get an introduction to cometary plasma physics
- Get an introduction to the research process
Contact person: Professor Hans Nilsson, hans.nilsson@irf.se
Published in October 2023.
Get the most out of ion spectrometer data – improve the mass resolution of data from comet 67P
(master thesis)
Be part of a creative group of comet plasma scientists. Work with data from the dynamic target comet 67P, visited by the Rosetta spacecraft. Learn to interpret spacecraft data and visualise your results.
This project makes use of data from the European Space Agency mission Rosetta to comet 67P. We use primarily data from the ion spectrometer ICA built and developed at IRF in Kiruna.
This is a project to squeeze more out of the ion spectrometer ICA. ICA measures the different ion species around comet 67P. So far we have been assuming that ions that originate from the comet nucleus are all water ions.
This is mostly true but not always. There are times when CO2 was the dominant gas flowing from the comet nucleus into space. In this project we will see when and where this is also true for the ions.
The work will use the raw instrument data to create a new processed data set with better ion mass resolution.
General description of tasks:
- Programming to process spacecraft data
- Programming to visualise data
- Interpret the data
- Present the results
Specific tasks:
- Programming to process spacecraft data
- Programming to visualise data
- Interpretation of data
- Presentation of results
Requirements:
- Basic knowledge of programming
- Interest in space physics
What you will learn:
- Programming for data analysis
- Visualising data
- Using data analysis tools
- Working with spacecraft data
- Presenting your results
- Get an introduction to cometary plasma physics
- Get an introduction to the research process
Contact person: Professor Hans Nilsson, hans.nilsson@irf.se
Published in October 2023.
Interpret unexpected and unexplained signals in ion data from comet 67P
(master thesis)
Be part of a creative group of comet plasma scientists. Work with data from the dynamic target comet 67P, visited by the Rosetta spacecraft. Learn to interpret spacecraft data and visualise your results.
This project makes use of data from the European Space Agency mission Rosetta to comet 67P. We use primarily data from the ion spectrometer ICA built and developed at IRF in Kiruna.
During the end of the Rosetta mission to comet 67P the spacecraft orbit took it close to the southern hemisphere of the comet nucleus. In the ICA ion spectrometer data we could see a number of features that looked different from anything else seen.
The purpose of this master thesis project is to classify one or more of the anomalous features observed and try to find an explanation. Cometary physics or instrument peculiarities? Probably a mixture of both.
General description of tasks:
- Programming to process spacecraft data
- Programming to visualise data
- Interpretation of data
- Presentation of results
Specific tasks:
- Characterise the unexplained signals in the comet ion data
- Classify the unexplained signals into different groups
- Look for patterns in the data
- Compare with other data
Requirements:
- Basic knowledge of programming
- Interest in space physics
What you will learn:
- Programming for data analysis
- Visualising data
- Using data analysis tools
- Working with spacecraft data
- Presenting your results
- Get an introduction to cometary plasma physics
- Get an introduction to the research process
Contact person: Professor Hans Nilsson, hans.nilsson@irf.se
Published in October 2023
Ion drift meter instrument design & prototype development
The ion drift meter is a space instrument that measures the 3-D ion drift velocity in the ionosphere. The working principle is straightforward: The ion currents coming through an aperture will be measured by multiply-segmented planer electrodes, the ratios of which provide the impinging direction of the bulk ion. With the help of spacecraft/rocket orbital motion, we can derive the ion bulk velocity.
The bulk ion drift velocity is a key parameter for understanding the ionosphere–thermosphere coupling in the upper atmosphere, where the momentum exchange between space and the atmosphere occurs.
The IRF/SSPT group will design, develop and implement IDM instruments for possible future missions, including terrestrial rocket missions and low-altitude spacecraft.
In addition to the Earth-based measurements, we aim to deploy Earth-like planetary ionospheres (e.g., Mars and Venus), outer planetary system, and interplanetary/interstellar probes. In this project, we will design an IDM instrument and develop a prototype.
The prototype will be tested and verified in a vacuum chamber. We also aim to operate the prototype in the real environment, possibly with a rocket experiment or small satellite (e.g., CubeSat).
The project includes a part of the following tasks:
- Theoretical performance assessment
- Performance analysis by computer simulation (possibly with GPU programming)
- Mechanical design
- Electrical design (incl. power system, frontend electronics, analog processing, etc.)
- Testing and verification in the lab
Contact persons: Yoshifumi Futaana, futaana@irf.se Manabu Shimoyama, manabu@irf.se Stas Barabash, stas@irf.se
Published in May 2022