Welcome Home SANSA Space Science Team
A SANSA Space Science team returned from Marion Island on Friday the 18th of May 2012, arriving in Cape Town Harbour on the SA Agulhas. Mr Roger van Schie and Mr Anton Feun, Space Science Engineers from The South African National Space Agency (SANSA), are thrilled by the research progress being made at Marion Island.
Marion Island is a small sub-Antarctic island declared a Special Nature Reserve and is situated about 2200km south-east of South Africa. The only human inhabitants of the island are research and conservation teams managed by the South African National Antarctic Programme. The island boasts a brand new state of the art research base, which has seven main buildings, excellent infrastructure and beautiful panoramic views of the Island.
Over the last 14 months Anton maintained and upgraded electronic equipment used for SANSA research projects, he said “the island is a gem and a perfect location for SANSA to conduct Space Weather research”. Research carried out by SANSA plays a significant role in understanding space weather and its effects on our satellite communication systems.
Mr Fred Fourie, has taken over from Anton as this year’s over-wintering Space Science Engineer on Marion Island. Roger who trained and prepared Fred for the take-over said “Fred is adapting well to the challenges involved with living and working in an isolated environment such as Marion Island”. While on the Island Roger also installed a magnetometer, an instrument used to measure the strength or direction of magnetic fields. This instrument will aid SANSA in monitoring the Earth’s magnetic field.
SANSA has a wide range of earth-space monitoring instrumentation, positioned in various locations including Marion Island, Gough Island, Antarctic, South Africa and Namibia. Through this geographically wide observational network, SANSA contributes earth and space science data to various global stakeholders. As the human race becomes more and more reliant on technology it becomes increasingly important to monitor the potential effects space weather can have on or communication systems. SANSA will continue its research on Marion Island, Gough Island and the Antarctic to assist with monitoring space weather.
Source: Whale Coast Media