New High Energy Astrophysics Involving Gravitational Waves and
Satellite Observations
A new exploration of the Universe has recently started through
gravitational-wave observations. On September 14, 2015, the
first detection of gravitational waves from the coalescence of
a binary system of black holes by the Advanced LIGO detectors
marked the dawn of gravitational-wave astronomy. On August 17,
2017, the first observation of gravitational waves from the
inspiral and merger of a binary neutron-star system by the
Advanced LIGO and Virgo network, followed 1.7 s later by a
weak short gamma-ray burst detected by the Fermi and INTEGRAL
satellites initiated the most extensive world-wide observing
campaign which led to the detection of multi-wavelength
electromagnetic counterparts. Multi-messenger discoveries are
revealing the enigmas of the most energetic transients in the
sky, probing relativistic astrophysics, nuclear physics,
nucleosynthesis and cosmology. The talk will give an overview
of the astrophysical implications of the gravitational-wave
and multi-messenger observations, focusing on the key role of
multi-wavelength satellites operating together with the
current and future gravitational-wave detectors.
Marica is president of the commission of Gravitational Wave
Astrophysics of the International Astronomical Union and
member of the Gravitational Wave International Committee. She
is member of the Virgo Collaboration, where she coordinated
the LIGO and Virgo collaboration electromagnetic follow-up
program from 2014 to 2018. She was in the panel that announced
the first gravitational-wave signal from the coalescence of
two neutron stars at the NSF international press-release. She
was listed in “Nature’s 10” as one of the
most impactful scientists of the year 2017. Her scientific
interest lies in the (astro)physics governing emission,
formation and evolution of black holes and neutron stars. Her
research activity is aimed at developing the multi-messenger
astronomy, which uses electromagnetic and gravitational-wave
observations to probe the physics of the most energetic
transient phenomena in the Universe.
John Church
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
John Church is a Professor in the Climate Change Research
Centre, University of New South Wales. He has published across
a broad range of topics in oceanography. His area of expertise
is the role of the ocean in climate, particularly
anthropogenic climate change and in understanding global and
regional sea-level rise. He is the author of over 160 refereed
publications, over 100 other reports and co-edited three
books. He was co-convening lead author for the Chapter on Sea
Level in the IPCC Third and Fifth Assessment Reports. He was
awarded the 2006 Roger Revelle Medal by the Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission, a CSIRO Medal for Research
Achievement in 2006, the 2007 Eureka Prize for Scientific
Research, the 2008 AMOS R.H. Clarke Lecture, the AMOS Morton
Medal in 2017 and was a joint winner of the BBVA Frontiers of
Knowledge Climate Change Category Prize in 2019. He is a
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the Australian
Academy of Technology and Engineering, the American
Meteorological Society and the Australian Meteorological and
Oceanographic Society.
Climate Change, the Ocean, the Cryosphere and Regional
Sea-level Change
Climate change has become one of the most important economic,
environmental and social challenges of the 21st century, with
sea-level rise a key aspect. Today, the order of 100 million
of people live within a metre of high tide level and more
people are moving towards the coast in both the developed and
developing world. Historical and paleo observations, the
advent of modern satellite and in situ ocean, cyosphere and
climate observing systems and the development of improved
ocean, ice sheet and climate models has greatly improved our
understanding of contemporary sea-level change. There is now a
reasonable understanding of the reasons for sea-level change
over recent decades and since 1900, including the attribution
of the observed change to the climatic drivers. There are
important implication for the 21st century and beyond.
Critically important for regional sea level around the globe
is the changing structure of the oceans and glaciers, the role
of the oceans and atmosphere in the future of the ice sheets
of Antarctica and Greenland and the vertical movement of
coastal regions. Projections for the 21st century indicate sea
levels could rise by a metre or more for unmitigated
emissions. Sea levels will not stop rising in 2100, even for
the strongest mitigation scenario. Indeed, failure to mitigate
our greenhouse gas emissions will lead to a world of
catastrophic changes. Avoiding these changes will require
significant, urgent and sustained mitigation of greenhouse gas
emissions. But even with successful mitigation, society will
have to adapt to that component of climate change we cannot
avoid. As a result, sea-level rise will have major impacts
around the world.
Francis A. Cucinotta
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA
Professor Francis A. Cucinotta joined Department of Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences during fall 2013 and teaches radiation biology, radiation dosimetry, and radiation science within the undergraduate and graduate programs.
Cucinotta’s research focuses on biophysics models of health effects caused by radiation on Earth, including radiation treatment of cancer, and in space travel, including astronaut risk assessment. He had developed models of radiation carcinogenesis, damage to neuron cells and altered neurogenesis, cataracts, and acute radiation syndromes. In addition, he has developed theoretical models of nuclear fragmentation, radiation transport, microdosimetry, and systems biology models of DNA repair and cell signaling.
Cucinotta earned his bachelor’s in physics from Rutgers University, and Doctoral Degree from Old Dominion University with a major in nuclear physics. He is currently funded (2016-2021) by the National Cancer Institute to study radiation induced changes in neuron cell dendritic morphology in cancer treatment with X-rays, protons and carbon beams, and has received grants from the Department of Energy and NASA in the past.
He was president of the Radiation Research Society during 2013-2014, is a council member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, and has published more than 350 peer-reviewed journal articles and numerous book chapters. Cucinotta currently serves on the editorial board for the Life Sciences in Space Research journal, and has been a guest editor for the journals Radiation Research, Frontiers in Radiation Oncology, Radiation Protection Dosimetry, and Radiation and Environmental Biophysics.
Michele Dougherty
Head of the Physics Department at Imperial College London and
a Fellow of the Royal Society
Michele Dougherty is Head of the Physics Department at
Imperial College London and a Fellow of the Royal Society. She
was the Cassini magnetometer Principal Investigator and with
her team discovered outgassing of water vapour from
Saturn’s moon Enceladus. She is Principal Investigator
for the magnetometer on the ESA JUICE spacecraft, due for
launch to Jupiter and its moons in 2022.
New aspects of the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn
The focus for the search for liquid water within our solar
system has expanded in the last 20 years to include the moons
of Jupiter and Saturn. Our understanding of the magnetospheres
of these two planets and their moons has greatly increased
following the orbital spacecraft missions at these two giant
planets. This orbital exploration began with the Galileo
spacecraft at Jupiter from 1995-2003, the Cassini-Huygens
spacecraft at Saturn from 2004-2017 and the Juno spacecraft
which began its orbital tour at Jupiter in 2016. Discoveries
from all of these orbital planetary missions will be described
as well as comparisons made between the two giant systems.
Hitoshi Kuninaka
Director General, Institute of Space and Astronautical
Science, Vice President, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Dr Hitoshi Kuninaka researches the plasma interaction of
satellites and develops electric propulsions. He participated
in the satellite project, Space Flyer Unit, from 1988 to 1996
and successfully brought it back to Earth via Space Shuttle
STS-72. Microwave discharge ion engines, which were invented
and developed by Dr Kuninaka, took Hayabusa explorer on a
round-trip journey between Earth and an asteroid from 2003 to
2010. The engines also have been propelling Hayabusa2 explorer
toward another asteroid since 2014.
The Status of Hayabusa 2 Asteroid Explorer and Its Results
JAXA has completed the space mission of Hayabusa asteroid
sample return from 2003 to 2010. The retrieved capsule
contained a lot of particles originating from the S-type
asteroid Itokawa. Hayabusa 2 project was initiated in 2011 for
the sample return from a C-type asteroid Ryugu. The bus system
is designed more robustly than the original. The spacecraft
was launched by H2A rocket December 2014 and then achieved
rendezvous with the asteroid in June 2018 after the orbital
maneuver by ion engines in 3.5 years. Three robots of MINERVAs
and MSCOT successfully landed on and sent back pictures of the
asteroid surface in close-up.
The detail localization and mapping of the surface identified
several points for the touch-down and the sample collection.
On February 2019 Hayabusa 2 bravely tried the first touch-down
and scattered a lot of fragments, some of which might be
collected by Hayabusa 2, from the surface. The spacecraft
fired the impactor and made an artificial crater with 10m
diameter in April 2019. The second touch-down was executed
beside the new crater in July. Hayabusa 2 will come back Earth
at Woomera Australia on December 2020.
Carlé McGetchin Pieters
Brown University, USA
Dr Pieters received her PhD from MIT in 1977 and is currently
a Professor (Research) at Brown University. Her research
focuses on remote compositional analyses and planetary
regolith processes. She has extensive laboratory experience
with lunar samples and meteorites and managed the multi-user
Reflectance Experiment Laboratory (RELAB) for the community
[1980-2014]. She has been a productive planetary astronomer as
well as science team member on exploration missions to the
Moon and asteroids. Dr. Pieters was PI of the Moon Mineralogy
Mapper (M3) on the Indian Chandrayaan-1 mission and was an
affiliate member of the JAXA Kaguya Science Team. She then
co-led international cross-calibration investigations
comparing optical results from several lunar missions. She was
an active CoI on NASA’s Dawn Mission to the large
asteroids Vesta and Ceres (2007-2018).
The Earth-Moon System: Our Past, Present and Future
It has been 50 years now since a human first stepped on
another planetary body and began exploration of a totally new
environment. Some remember that initial step as a once-in-a
lifetime event that brought a dramatic change of perspective
and understanding. To others it represents just a waypoint in
history that occurred two generations in the past. Regardless
of how that first venture from the Earth to the Moon is
viewed, the space science world of today is quite different
from that of 50 years ago. The number of space faring nations
participating in exploration has greatly expanded and the
community is irreversibly international in nature, talents and
objectives. Technical capabilities of instruments and sensors
have improved exponentially and will continue to push new
boundaries, pose new questions and stumble upon profound
surprises. What have we learned about our home through
exploration of the Moon? Are we prepared for the next 50
years?
The Past. We now know that the Earth and Moon have been
intimately linked since our violent origin billions of years
ago. The Moon’s surface documents the subsequent
formative period of the Earth-Moon system and provides a
lasting record of that early era, one that has long since been
transformed and lost on Earth.
The Present. Similarly, we recognize that the Earth and the
Moon will continue to uniquely share the same environment at 1
AU. This includes the same ongoing interaction with the
residual flux of large and small pieces of solar system
debris. The Earth and Moon are also both simultaneously awash
in the Sun’s variable magnetic environment and each
faces the same amount of energetic solar and galactic plasma
and neutral particles.
The Future. Humanity inhabits all continents of Earth, albeit
with different degrees of comfort and prosperity. To meet more
of humanity’s vital needs and demands (which will only
grow) in the next century, the Moon presents a newly
accessible “8th continent” for future exploration
as well as potential resources. We must plan carefully and
proceed wisely.