Alaska Satellite Facility celebrates 25 years
May 31, 2016
The Alaska Satellite Facility will celebrate its 25th anniversary with an open house
on Friday, June 3, from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Elvey and Akasofu buildings at the University
of Alaska Fairbanks.
A short welcome ceremony will launch the festivities at 4 p.m. in the lobby of the
Akasofu Building on UAF's West Ridge.
The event, suitable for all ages, features a First Friday art show highlighting imagery
from satellites, including radar images of Earth; activities and exhibits, including
coloring books, do-it-yourself satellite-model construction, unmanned aircraft and
rocketry; and scientific posters depicting research using radar.
Data and imagery distributed by the Alaska Satellite Facility have been used to track
sea ice; study soil moisture; follow the path of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in
the Gulf of Mexico; analyze earthquake damage and faults in Nepal, Japan, Haiti and
elsewhere; map wetlands; look at erupting volcanoes; and much more.
Back in 1991, the iconic big blue antenna dish on the top of the Elvey Building on
the UAF campus performed its first downlink of data from a satellite. The satellite,
known as ERS-1, was launched by the European Space Agency, and the data was shared
with scientists under an agreement with NASA. Ever since then, funded solely by contracts
and grants, the Alaska Satellite Facility has supported research in Alaska and around
the world. The facility is part of the UAF Geophysical Institute.
Over the past quarter century, the facility has developed three arms: a NASA Distributed
Active Archive Center, the ASF Ground Station and the ASF Enterprise. As a NASA DAAC,
one of 12 in the nation, the Alaska Satellite Facility archives more than 2.5 petabytes
of synthetic aperture radar data and imagery for distribution to scientific users
around the world. Scientists use this data to study subjects including ecology, volcanoes,
glaciers, earthquakes, sea ice, climate change and more. SAR bounces a signal off
the surface of Earth to detect physical properties including surface shape, surface
roughness and vegetation cover. Unlike optical sensors, such as those on Landsat satellites,
SAR can see through darkness, clouds and rain.
The ASF Ground Station, with three NASA antennas that are Fairbanks landmarks on the
university’s West Ridge, supports polar-orbiting, Earth-imaging spacecraft from its
prime polar location. In addition to the dish on top of the Elvey Building, the ASF
station operates the two 11-meter antennas near the UAF ski trails. The full-service
station operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing downlink, uplink and
coherent tracking services. It is is the only university-based member of the Near
Earth Network, a global array supporting missions by NASA and others. The network,
managed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, has more than a dozen ground stations
that provide telemetry, commanding, ground-based tracking, data and communications
services to a wide range of customers.
ASF Enterprise operates a separate, off-campus, full-service ground station, using
university-owned antenna systems to support space agencies, small-satellite operators
and data providers. In addition, ASF Enterprise provides SAR training to assist the
research and hazard response communities in understanding and applying SAR data to
their specific applications.
ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Nettie LaBelle-Hamer, 907-474-6167, nettie.labellehamer@alaska.edu
ON THE WEB: https://www.asf.alaska.edu/about/events/
Download the open house flier.