Speakers
Description
On 8 September 2024, the re-entry of the cluster-II Salsa satellite was observed successfully approximatly 1500km West of Easter Island from a commercial business jet. We present in this talk the rationale for such an observation mission as well as the layout and design of the experimental setup with 26 lenses at 6 window stations, the preparation based on re-entry break-up predictions and eventually the execution of the actual observation campaign. Some very first results will detail the challenges and eventually the success. This observation mission was a team effort of Astros Solutions (Bratislava UK), HEFDiG at Institute of Space Systems (IRS, Stuttgart, Germany), Hyperschalltechnologie Goettingen (HTG, Goettingen, Germany), the University of Bratislava (Bratislava, Slovakia) and the University of Southern Queensland (Toowoomba, Australia). We will not only show how to squeeze a remarkable amount of experimental hardware together with 10 researchers into a business jet, but also give a first glance at spectroscopic data and some first preliminary re-entry break-up results. We will conclude with lessons learned and gained experience.
