Two mini neutron monitors are installed at Concordia research station (Dome C, Central Antarctica, $75^{\circ}06^{\prime}S$, $123^{\circ}23^{\prime}E$, 3,233 m.a.s.l.). The site has unique properties ideal for cosmic ray measurements, especially for the detection of solar energetic particles: very low cutoff rigidity < 0.01 GV, high elevation and poleward asymptotic acceptance cones pointing to geographical latitudes > $75^{\circ}S$. The instruments consist of a standard neutron monitor and a "bare" (lead-free) neutron monitor. The instrument operation started in mid-January 2015. The barometric correction coefficients were computed for the period from 1 February to 31 July 2015. Several interesting events, including two notable Forbush decreases on 17 March 2015 and 22 June 2015, and a solar particle event of 29 October 2015 were registered. The data sets are available at cosmicrays.oulu.fi and nmdb.eu.

By adopting a 2D time-dependent wave code, we investigate how mode-converted waves at the Ion-Ion Hybrid (IIH) resonance and compressional waves propagate in 2D density structures with a wide range of field-aligned wavenumbers to background magnetic fields. The simulation results show that the mode-converted waves have continuous bands across the field line consistent with previous numerical studies. These waves also have harmonic structures in frequency domain and are localized in the field-aligned heavy ion density well. Our results thus emphasize the importance of a field-aligned heavy ion density structure for ultra-low frequency wave propagation, and suggest that IIH waves can be localized in different locations along the field line.

In this study, we documented the midlatitude F2-layer response to five strong geomagnetic storms with minimum Dst < -150 nT that occurred in solar minimum years using hourly values of the F2-layer critical frequency (foF2) from four ionosondes located in different hemispheres. The results were very limited, but they illustrated some peculiarities in the behavior of the F2-layer storm. During equinox, the characteristic ionospheric disturbance patterns over the Japanese station Wakkanai in the Northern Hemisphere and the Australian station Mundaring in the Southern Hemisphere were consistent with the well-known scenario by $Pr{\ddot{o}}lss$ (1993); however, during a December solstice magnetic storm, both stations did not observe any noticeable positive ionospheric disturbances. Over the "near-pole" European ionosonde, clear positive ionospheric storms were not observed during the events, but the "far-from-pole" Southern Hemisphere station Port Stanley showed prominent enhancements in F2-layer peak electron density in all magnetic storms except one. No event produced noticeable nighttime enhancements in foF2 over all four ionosondes.

In this study, we examined a morningside Pi2 pulsation, with a non-substorm signature, that occurred in very quiet geomagnetic conditions (Kp = 0) at 05:38 UT on December 8, 2012, using data obtained by Van Allen Probes A and B (VAP-A and VAP-B, respectively) and at a ground station. Using 1 sec resolution vector magnetic field data, we measured the X-component of the pulsation from the Abu Simbel ground station (L = 1.07, LT = UT +2 hr, where LT represents local time) in Egypt. At the time of the Pi2 event, Abu Simbel and VAP-A (L = 3.3) were in the morning sector (07:38 LT and 07:59 MLT, respectively, where MLT represents magnetic local time), and VAP-B was in the postmidnight sector (04:18 MLT and L = 5.7). VAP-A and VAP-B observed oscillations in the compressional magnetic field component (Bz), which were in close agreement with the X-component measurements of the Pi2 pulsation that were made at Abu Simbel. The oscillations observed by the satellites and on the ground were in phase. Thus, we concluded that the observed morningside Pi2 pulsation was caused by the cavity resonance mode rather than by ionospheric current systems.

In this study, we estimated the topside scale height of plasma density (Hm) using the Swarm constellation and ionosondes in Korea. The Hm above Korean Peninsula is generally around 50 km. Statistical distributions of the topside scale height exhibited a complex dependence upon local time and season. The results were in general agreement with those of Tulasi Ram et al. (2009), who used the same method to calculate the topside scale height in a mid-latitude region. On the contrary, our results did not fully coincide with those obtained by Liu et al. (2007), who used electron density profiles from Arecibo Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) between 1966 and 2002. The disagreement may result from the limitations in our approximation method and data coverage used for estimations, as well as the inherent dependence of Hm on Geographic LONgitude (GLON).

Energy spectra of electron microbursts from 170 keV to 340 keV have been measured by the solid-state detectors aboard the low-altitude (680 km) polar-orbiting Korean STSAT-1 (Science and Technology SATellite). These measurements have revealed two important characteristics unique to the microbursts: (1) They are produced by a fast-loss cone-filling process in which the interaction time for pitch-angle scattering is less than 50 ms and (2) The e-folding energy of the perpendicular component is larger than that of the parallel component, and the loss cone is not completely filled by electrons. To understand how wave-particle interactions could generate microbursts, we performed a test particle simulation and investigated how the waves scattered electron pitch angles within the timescale required for microburst precipitation. The application of rising-frequency whistler-mode waves to electrons of different energies moving in a dipole magnetic field showed that chorus magnetic wave fields, rather than electric fields, were the main cause of microburst events, which implied that microbursts could be produced by a quasi-adiabatic process. In addition, the simulation results showed that high-energy electrons could resonate with chorus waves at high magnetic latitudes where the loss cone was larger, which might explain the decreased e-folding energy of precipitated microbursts compared to that of trapped electrons.

Previously, all-sky airglow images observed at Shigaraki ($34.9^{\circ}N$, $136.1^{\circ}E$), Japan, during 2004 and 2005 were analyzed in relation to those observed at Mt. Bohyun ($36.2^{\circ}N$, $128.9^{\circ}E$) for a comparison of their gravity wave characteristics (Kim et al. 2010). By applying the same selection criteria of waves and cloud coverages as in the case of Mt. Bohyun all-sky images, we derived apparent wavelengths, periods, phase velocities, and monthly occurrence rates of gravity waves at Shigaraki in this study. The distributions of wavelengths, periods, and speeds derived for Shigaraki were found to be roughly similar to those for Mt. Bohyun. However, the overall occurrence rates of gravity waves at Shigaraki were 36% and 34% for OI 557.7 nm and OH Meinel band airglow layers, respectively, which were significantly higher than those at Mt. Bohyun. The monthly occurrence rates did not show minima near equinox months, unlike those for Mt. Bohyun. Furthermore, the seasonal preferential directions that were clearly apparent for Mt. Bohyun were not seen in the wave propagation trends for Shigaraki. These differences between the two sites imply different origins of the gravity waves near the Korean peninsula and the Japanese islands. The gravity waves over the Japanese islands may originate from sources at various altitudes; therefore, wind filtering may not be effective in causing any seasonal preferential directions in the waves in the airglow layers. Our analysis of the Shigaraki data supports recent theoretical studies, according to which gravity waves can be generated from in situ sources, such as mesosphere wind shear or secondary wave formation, in the mesosphere.

Using the Total Electron Content (TEC) data from the Global Navigation Service System (GNSS) site in Jeju, operated by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (geographic location: $33.3^{\circ}N$, $126.5^{\circ}E$; geomagnetic location: $23.6^{\circ}N$) for 2002-2014 in Korea, the results of the statistical analysis of positive and negative ionospheric storms are presented for the first time. In this paper, ionospheric storms are defined as turbulences that exceed 50% of the percentage differential Global Positioning System (GPS) TEC ratio (${\Delta}TEC$) with monthly median GPS TEC. During the period of observations, the total number of positive ionospheric storms (${\Delta}TEC$ > 50%) was 170, which is greater than five times the number of negative ionospheric storms (${\Delta}TEC$ < - 50%) of 33. The numbers of ionospheric storms recorded during solar cycles 23 and 24 were 134 and 69, respectively. Both positive and negative ionospheric storms showed yearly variation with solar activity during solar cycle 23, but during solar cycle 24, the occurrence of negative ionospheric storms did not show any particular trend with solar activity. This result indicates that the ionosphere is actively perturbed during solar cycle 23, whereas it is relatively quiet during solar cycle 24. The monthly variations of the ionospheric storms were not very clear although there seems to be stronger occurrence during solstice than during equinox. We also investigated the variations of GPS positioning accuracy caused by ionospheric storms during November 7-10, 2004. During this storm period, the GPS positioning accuracies from a single frequency receiver are 3.26 m and 2.97 m on November 8 and 10, respectively, which is much worse than the quiet conditions on November 7 and 9 with the accuracy of 1.54 m and 1.69 m, respectively.

New observations for the times of minimum lights of a well-known apsidal motion star CW Cephei were made using a 0.6 m wide field telescope at Jincheon station of Chungbuk National University Observatory, Korea during the 2015 observational season. We determined new times of minimum lights from these observations and analyzed O-C diagrams together with collected times of minima to study both the apsidal motion and the Light Time Effect (LTE) suggested in the system. The new periods of the apsidal motion and the LTE were calculated as 46.6 and 39.3 years, respectively, which were similar but improved accuracy than earlier ones investigated by Han et al. (2002), Erdem et al. (2004) and Wolf et al. (2006).

As a governmentally approved domestic entity for Space Situational Awareness, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) is developing and operating an optical telescopes system, Optical Wide-field PatroL (OWL) Network. During the test phase of this system, it is necessary to determine the range of brightness of the observable satellites. We have defined standard magnitude for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to calibrate their luminosity in terms of standard parameters such as distance, phase angle, and angular rate. In this work, we report the optical brightness range of five LEO Satellites using OWL-Net.

By using the Optical Wide-field Patrol (OWL) network developed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) we generated the right ascension and declination angle data from optical observation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. We performed an analysis to verify the optimum number of observations needed per arc for successful estimation of orbit. The currently functioning OWL observatories are located in Daejeon (South Korea), Songino (Mongolia), and Oukaïmeden (Morocco). The Daejeon Observatory is functioning as a test bed. In this study, the observed targets were Gravity Probe B, COSMOS 1455, COSMOS 1726, COSMOS 2428, SEASAT 1, ATV-5, and CryoSat-2 (all in LEO). These satellites were observed from the test bed and the Songino Observatory of the OWL network during 21 nights in 2014 and 2015. After we estimated the orbit from systematically selected sets of observation points (20, 50, 100, and 150) for each pass, we compared the difference between the orbit estimates for each case, and the Two Line Element set (TLE) from the Joint Space Operation Center (JSpOC). Then, we determined the average of the difference and selected the optimal observation points by comparing the average values.

Atmospheric drag force is an important source of perturbation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) orbit satellites, and solar activity is a major factor for changes in atmospheric density. In particular, the orbital lifetime of a satellite varies with changes in solar activity, so care must be taken in predicting the remaining orbital lifetime during preparation for post-mission disposal. In this paper, the System Tool Kit (STK$^{(R)}$) Long-term Orbit Propagator is used to analyze the changes in orbital lifetime predictions with respect to solar activity. In addition, the STK$^{(R)}$ Lifetime tool is used to analyze the change in orbital lifetime with respect to solar flux data generation, which is needed for the orbital lifetime calculation, and its control on the drag coefficient control. Analysis showed that the application of the most recent solar flux file within the Lifetime tool gives a predicted trend that is closest to the actual orbit. We also examine the effect of the drag coefficient, by performing a comparative analysis between varying and constant coefficients in terms of solar activity intensities.

This work presents fuel-optimal altitude maintenance of Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) spacecrafts experiencing non-negligible air drag and J2 perturbation. A pseudospectral (direct) method is first applied to roughly estimate an optimal fuel consumption strategy, which is employed as an initial guess to precisely determine itself. Based on the physical specifications of KOrea Multi-Purpose SATellite-2 (KOMPSAT-2), a Korean artificial satellite, numerical simulations show that a satellite ascends with full thrust at the early stage of the maneuver period and then descends with null thrust. While the thrust profile is presumably bang-off, it is difficult to precisely determine the switching time by using a pseudospectral method only. This is expected, since the optimal switching epoch does not coincide with one of the collocation points prescribed by the pseudospectral method, in general. As an attempt to precisely determine the switching time and the associated optimal thrust history, a shooting (indirect) method is then employed with the initial guess being obtained through the pseudospectral method. This hybrid process allows the determination of the optimal fuel consumption for LEO spacecrafts and their thrust profiles efficiently and precisely.

This study presents a precise relative navigation algorithm using both laser and Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements in real time. The measurement model of the navigation algorithm between two spacecraft is comprised of relative distances measured by laser instruments and single differences of GPS pseudo-range measurements in spherical coordinates. Based on the measurement model, the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is applied to smooth the pseudo-range measurements and to obtain the relative navigation solution. While the navigation algorithm using only laser measurements might become inaccurate because of the limited accuracy of spacecraft attitude estimation when the distance between spacecraft is rather large, the proposed approach is able to provide an accurate solution even in such cases by employing the smoothed GPS pseudo-range measurements. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the errors of the proposed algorithm are reduced by more than about 12% compared to those of an algorithm using only laser measurements, as the accuracy of angular measurements is greater than $0.001^{\circ}$ at relative distances greater than 30 km.

We investigated the six remaining Yang-cheon-cheoks (量天尺), which were first described in the Veritable Record of King Sukjong (肅宗實錄). These woodblock sundials from Korea are structurally very similar to a Gyupyo (圭表, gnomon) or an altitude sundial and are light, compact, and portable. The front side of a Yang-cheon-cheok has two holes for styluses and several hour-lines. We compared the intervals of the hour-lines from the originating point of the stylus placement on all Yang-cheon-cheoks and found that two of the relics had the same hour-lines using the standard of the unit of 1 chon (寸). These two were actually the same sundial although the physical size was different. In spite of the lack of time accuracy, we hypothesize that various-sized Yang-cheon-cheoks were made and widely distributed throughout the public in the late Joseon Dynasty.

The Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), a dedicated regional Japanese satellite system currently under development, was designed to complement the performance of the Global Positioning System (GPS). The high elevation angle of the QZSS satellite is expected to enhance the effectiveness of GPS in urban environments. Thus, the work described in this paper, aimed to investigate the effect of QZSS on GPS performance, by processing the GPS and QZSS measurements recorded at the Bohyunsan reference station in South Korea. We used these data, to evaluate the satellite visibility, carrier-to-noise density (C/No), performance of single point positioning, and Dilution of Precision (DOP). The QZSS satellite is currently available over South Korea for 19 hours at an elevation angle of more than 10 degrees. The results showed that the impact of the QZSS on users' vertical positioning is greatest when the satellite is above 80 degrees of elevation. As for Precise Point Positioning (PPP) performance, the combined GPS/QZSS kinematic PPP was found to improve the positioning accuracy compared to the GPS only kinematic PPP.

Several optical monitoring strategies by a ground-based telescope to protect a Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite from collisions with close approaching objects were investigated. Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) objects, Inclined GeoSynchronous Orbit (IGSO) objects, and drifted GEO objects forced by natural perturbations are hazardous to operational GEO satellites regarding issues related to close approaches. The status of these objects was analyzed on the basis of their orbital characteristics in Two-Line Element (TLE) data from the Joint Space Operation Center (JSpOC). We confirmed the conjunction probability with all catalogued objects for the domestic operational GEO satellite, Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite (COMS) using the Conjunction Analysis Tools by Analytical Graphics, Inc (AGI). The longitudinal drift rates of GeoSynchronous Orbit (GSO) objects were calculated, with an analytic method and they were confirmed using the Systems Tool Kit by AGI. The required monitoring area was determined from the expected drift duration and inclination of the simulated target. The optical monitoring strategy for the target area was analyzed through the orbit determination accuracy. For this purpose, the close approach of Russian satellite Raduga 1-7 to Korean COMS in 2011 was selected.

In this study, a new idea for developing a space scale for measuring mass in a microgravity environment was proposed by using the inertial force properties of an object to measure its mass. The space scale detected the momentum change of the specimen and reference masses by using a load-cell sensor as the force transducer based on Newton's laws of motion. In addition, the space scale calculated the specimen mass by comparing the inertial forces of the specimen and reference masses in the same acceleration field. By using this concept, a space scale with a capacity of 3 kg based on the law of momentum conservation was implemented and demonstrated under microgravity conditions onboard International Space Station (ISS) with an accuracy of ${\pm}1g$. By the performance analysis on the space scale, it was verified that an instrument with a compact size could be implemented and be quickly measured with a reasonable accuracy under microgravity conditions.

Coronal Mass Ejections (CME), which originate from active regions of the Sun's surface, e.g., sunspots, result in geomagnetic storms on Earth. The variation of the Earth's geomagnetic field during such storms induces surface currents that could cause breakdowns in electricity power grids. Hence, it is essential to both monitor Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GICs) in real time and analyze previous GIC data. In 2012, in order to monitor the variation of GICs, the Korean Space Weather Center (KSWC) installed an induced current measurement system at SINGAPYEONG Substation, which is equipped with 765 kV extra-high-voltage transformers. Furthermore, in 2014, two induced current measurement systems were installed on the 345 kV high-voltage transformers at the MIGEUM and SINPOCHEON substations. This paper reports the installation process of the induced current measurement systems at these three substations. Furthermore, it presents the results of both an analysis performed using GIC data measured at the SINGAPYEONG Substation during periods of geomagnetic storms from July 2013 through April 2015 and the comparison between the obtained GIC data and magnetic field variation (dH/dt) data measured at the Icheon geomagnetic observatory.