York Argus team wins 2010 Alouette award for climate sensor
 York
University's Argus instrument team has been awarded the Alouette award
in recongnition of it's contribution to the Canadian Advanced Nanospace
eXperiment (CanX-2). Argus team members include Prof.
Brendan Quine (PI), Rajinder
Jagpal, Sanjar Abrarov, Hugh
Chesser, Harvey Emberley, Alex Ho, Prof. Regina Lee, Dr.
Caroline Roberts and Dr. Brian Solhiem. The team is honored to have
known team member Clive Midwinter who died in 2008.
Introduced in 1995 by the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI)
the award recognizes outstanding contributions to advancement in
Canadian space technology, applications, science or engineering. This
year's award honors the achievement of the CanX-2
spacecraft launched in April 2008. Pioneered by Dr.
Robert Zee at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace
Studies, the mission has enhanced significantly the canadian capability
for nano-space utilization. Within an envelope no larger than a shoebox,
the spacecraft deployed a range of innovative new space technologies
including the Argus micro-spectrometer sensor.
 Members
of the CanX-2 mission receiving the Allouette award included Dr Robert
Zee and Dr Chris Damarenon behalf of the CanX-2 Team at the UTIAS
Space Flight Laboratory, Maj. Frank Pinkney and Dr Brad Wallace on
behalf of the Department of National Defence, Dr Alfred Ng on behalf of
the Canadian Space Agency, Dr Cameron Ower on behalf of MDA Space
Missions, Mr Remy Chabot on behalf of the National Science and
Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Mr Doug Sinclair on behalf of
Sinclair Interplanetary, and Dr Susan Skone and Dr Elizabeth Cannon on
behalf of the University of Calgary. The prize is awarded annually
for an outstanding achievement in the field of astronautics.
|
|
 Argus
was developed at York and in association with Thoth
Technology Inc. The instrument operates in the infrared, observing
the radiation leaving the Earth's surface and atmosphere. In the
infrared spectrum, absorption by water, clouds and carbon dioxide trap
the sun's energy near the surface keeping the planet hospitable for
life. Increased industrialization and greenhouse gas utilization is
modifying the radiation environment changing the pattern that Earth's absorbs
sunlight leading to climate change. Argus has the capability to observe
the radiation effect caused by surface pollution plumes. With a spatial
accuracy of 1.5km Argus can observe directly large emissions of
carbon-dioxide a primary greenhouse gas. Like it's namesake, the
multi-eyed greek god, Argus will require a constellation of similar
sensors to build up a comprehensive picture on climate change. The Argus
technology has therefore been commercialized
and is now supplied to research organizations all over the world by
Thoth.
|
|
  The
event also honored Dr.
Allan Carswell, YorkU professor emeritus (shown left), who was
awarded the C. D. Howe
Award for his outstanding leadership in Canadian aeronautics and
space activities. Previous winners of the Alouette award include Professor
Gordon Shepherd (lifetime achievement, 2004, shown right) and York
adjunct faculty Dr. Tom McElroy (ACE Mission, MAESTRO Instrument, 2009).
Selected Publications
 | Rajinder K. Jagpal and Brendan M. Quine, Hugh Chesser, Sanjar M.
Abrarov, and Regina Lee. Calibration and in-orbit performance of the
Argus 1000 spectrometer - the Canadian pollution monitor, J. Appl.
Remote Sens., Vol. 4, 049501 (2010); doi:10.1117/1.3302405. |
| Jagpal, R. K.; Quine, B.; Abrarov, S. M.; Lee, R.; Chesser, H.;
McKernan, E.; Bhattacharya, Y. Carbon Dioxide Retrieval from Space
Spectral Data of ARGUS 1000 Spectrometer, American Geophysical
Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract
#A51A-0087. |
Links
To
read York University's research article news click
here.
For
more information on the Alouette Award, click
here.
To learn more about
York
University
’s space engineering program,
click
here.
To
read York University's media release click
here. |
|