• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.317-325
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• 2015

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.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.119-125
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• 2017

We retrieved rotational temperatures from emission lines of the OH airglow (8-3) band in the sky spectra of the Sloan digital sky survey (SDSS) for the period 2000-2014, as part of the astronomical observation project conducted at the Apache Point observatory ($32^{\circ}N$, $105^{\circ}W$). The SDSS temperatures show a typical seasonal variation of mesospheric temperature: low in summer and high in winter. We find that the temperatures respond to solar activity by as much as $1.2K{\pm}0.8K$ per 100 solar flux units, which is consistent with other studies in mid-latitude regions. After the seasonal variation and solar response were subtracted, the SDSS temperature is fairly constant over the 15 year period, unlike cooling trends suggested by some studies. This temperature analysis using SDSS spectra is a unique contribution to the global monitoring of climate change because the SDSS project was established for astronomical purposes and is independent from climate studies. The SDSS temperatures are also compared with mesospheric temperatures measured by the microwave limb sounder (MLS) instrument on board the Aura satellite and the differences are discussed.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.399-416
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• 2004

The FIMS (Far-ultraviolet IMaging Spectrograph), the main payload onboard the first Korean science satellite STSAT-1, has performed various observations since its launch on September 2003. It has been found that the attitude informations provided by spacecraft bus system have a time offset problem, and the problem has been extensively studied. After the time offset correction, boresight offsets between FIMS fields of view, of long and short wavelength bands, respectivley, and spacecraft attitude systems, which are mainly due to alignment error between the FIMS and spacecraft mechanical systems, were calculated through the observations of well known calibration targets. Monthly status and precision of the attitude information are also described. Correction methods for spatially variable exposure, intrinsic to FIMS data, are discussed. These results are essential to the FIMS data analysis, and will be used as references for subsequent studies on more accurate attitude corrections.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.403-409
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• 2015

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.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.273-282
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• 2005

A star sensor daytime observation model is developed in order to test the performance of the star sensor useful for daylight application. The centroid errors of the star sensor in the day time application are computed by using the model. The standard atmospheric model (LOWTRAN7) is utilized to calculate the physical quantities of the daylight atmospheric environments where the star sensor is immersed. This observation model takes the separation angles between the sun and star, the centroid algorithm and the various system specifications of the star sensor into the account. The developed star sensor model will provide more realistic measurement errors in estimating the performance of the attitude determination from the vector observations.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.319-327
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• 2010

We examine the ionospheric F2-layer electron density variation by solar activity in middle latitude by using foF2 observed at the Kokubunji ionosonde station in Japan for the period from 1997 to 2008. The semi-annual variation of foF2 shows obviously in high solar activity (2000-2002) than low solar activity (2006-2008). It seems that variation of geomagnetic activity by solar activity influences on the semi-annual variation of the ionospheric F2-layer electron density. According to the Lomb-Scargle periodogram analysis of foF2 and Ap index, interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bs (IMF Bz <0) component, solar wind speed, solar wind number density and flow pressure which influence the geomagnetic activity, we examine how the geomagnetic activity affects the ionospheric F2-layer electron density variation. We find that the semi-annual variation of daily foF2, Ap index and IMF Bs appear clearly during the high solar activity. It suggests that the semi-annual variation of geomagnetic activity, caused by Russell-McPherron effect, contributes greatly to the ionospheric F2-layer semi-annual electron density variation, except dynamical effects in the thermosphere.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.145-149
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• 2015

A newly designed Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (TEPC) has been developed for the CubeSat mission, SIGMA (Scientific cubesat with Instruments for Global Magnetic field and rAdiation) to investigate space radiation. In order to test the performance of the TEPC, we have performed heavy ion beam experiments with the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC), Japan. In space, human cells can be exposed to complex radiation sources, such as X-ray, Gamma ray, energetic electrons, protons, neutrons and heavy charged particles in a huge range of energies. These generate much a larger range of Linear Energy Transfer (LET) than on the ground and cause unexpected effects on human cells. In order to measure a large range of LET, from 0.3 to $1,000keV/{\mu}m$, we developed a compact TEPC which measures ionized particles produced by collisions between radiation sources and tissue equivalent materials in the detector. By measuring LET spectra, we can easily derive the equivalent dose from the complicated space radiation field. In this HIMAC experiment, we successfully obtained the linearity response for the TEPC with Fe 500 MeV/u and C 290 MeV/u beams and demonstrated the performance of the active radiation detector.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.21-32
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• 2015

We have carried out photometric follow-up observations of bright transiting extrasolar planets using the CbNUOJ 0.6 m telescope. We have tested the possibility of obtaining high photometric precision by applying the telescope defocus technique, allowing the use of several hundred seconds in exposure time for a single measurement. We demonstrate that this technique is capable of obtaining a root-mean-square scatter of sub-millimagnitude order over several hours for a V~10 host star, typical for transiting planets detected from ground-based survey facilities. We compared our results with transit observations from a telescope operated in in-focus mode. High photometric precision was obtained due to the collection of a larger amount of photons, resulting in a higher signal compared to other random and systematic noise sources. Accurate telescope tracking is likely to further contribute to lowering systematic noise by exposing the same pixels on the CCD. Furthermore, a longer exposure time helps reduce the effect of scintillation noise which otherwise has a significant effect for small-aperture telescopes operated in in-focus mode. Finally we present the results of modelling four light-curves in which a root-mean-square scatter of 0.70 to 2.3 milli-magnitudes was achieved.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.97-106
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• 2002

The design feature of KOMPSAT-2 simulator based on object oriented design methodology in terms of unified modeling language (UML) has been discussed in this paper. Also, we present how to embed flight software into the simulator. Flight software em-bedding for KOMPSAT-2 simulator is compared to that of the KOMPSAT-1 simulator.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.395-402
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• 2002

The NORAD type Two Line Element (TLE) was obtained from the osculating orbital elements by an iterative approximation procedure. The mathematical model was presented and computer program was developed for the conversion. The osculating orbital elements of the KOMPSAT-1 were converted into the NORAD TLE. Then the effect of the SGP4 atmospheric drag coefficient ($B^*$) was analyzed by comparison of the orbit propagation results with different $B^*$ values.