Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy

Today is the big day! #OnThisDay, November 25th in 1964, exactly 60 years ago, Marcel Nicolet took the initiative to seperate the #Aeronomy department from the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (KMI-IRM-RMI), founding the Institute for Space Aeronomy and becoming its first director. We've come a long way since, involving ourselves in many research domains, space missions and projects! #BIRA_IASB60years #belgianscience

Today, November 25, is the #InternationalDayfortheEliminationofViolenceagainstWomen. At this occasion, BIRA-IASB signed the pledge for zero tolerance to gender-based violence in academia and research, promoted by the European Union’s Commission on ‘Inclusive Gender Equality in the ERA (European Research Area)’. #stopviolence #genderbasedviolence https://lnkd.in/eHybgf4N

Another #BIRA_IASB60years celebration with a speed dating event at the Planetarium of the Royal Observatory of Belgium last night. What better way to spend a cold Friday evening than with the researchers and engineers of the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy ! Master students in varying fields of science and engineering came to talk and ask their questions about their future possibilities in joining our efforts to better understand Earth's atmosphere, as well as those of other planets and comets. #sciencejobs #researchjobs #belgianscience BELSPO

Big happening #planetariumbrussels tonight! We're celebrating #BIRA_IASB60years with Arnaud Vajda and our new director Ann Carine Vandaele Our #scientists and #engineers are also entering in direct contact with master students in #physics and #engineering !

#BIRA_IASB60years 1995: Launch of the #ERS2 mission. On board, the #GOME (Global #ozone Monitoring Experiment) spectrometer is the first European instrument devoted entirely to atmospheric chemistry. It monitors stratospheric ozone on a global and long-term scale. Measurements, from the ultraviolet to the near infrared, cover incident solar radiation and radiation scattered by the atmosphere below the #satellite. The Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB) is contributing to the analysis of the data for the study of the atmosphere. #spacehistory #sciencehistory #ozonelayer

1983: BIRA-IASB's first #space experiments take place during the #SPACELAB mission, Europe's first space laboratory, an installation that allowed #scientists to conduct experiments in and from the space shuttle in orbit. Among the scientific experiments carried out were three from the Belgian Institute for #SpaceAeronomy: 1️⃣ The GRILLE spectrometer (an instrument that can determine certain information from light) determined the absorptions of infrared light by the atmosphere 2️⃣ the “Solar Spectrum” experiment (SOLSPEC) recorded the spectral luminosity of the Sun 3️⃣ the “Atmospheric H and D through Measurement of Lyman-Alpha Emission” (ALAE) experiment aimed to measure the dispersion of heavy hydrogen (hydrogen atoms with one proton but also a neutron) in the high atmosphere. In the period between 1983 and 1998, Spacelab flew 22 times. #BIRA_IASB60years #spacehistory #sciencehistory

What a great conference it was! European Space Weather Week brought new ideas, collaborations, and perspectives. It was great to present not only outreach by convening and co-chairing a session on outreach & education and displaying a poster, but also discuss end user engagement during one of the ESWAN's topical discussion meetings, and particiapting in end user lunch for human space flight domein. Time to go home and continue working there :)

BIRA-IASB is soon celebrating its 60-year anniversary. It was founded in 1964 and gradually grew in research domains and instrument expertise. In 1975, the scientists of the institute began their research into the interaction between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere and its impact on the upper atmosphere. Today we are involved in many projects regarding space physics and space weather, and even try to make it touchable for the blind with the project #ATouchOfSpaceWeather #ATOS

#OnThisDay, exactly 10 years ago, the #Philae-lander of the European #Rosetta #spacemission successfully landed on the #comet Chury. This was the first ever touchdown on a comet, and the landing didn't go smoothly. Philae bounced off of the surface twice, but managed to land safely, though it took 2 years to finally determine the exact landing location through the eyes of the Rosetta spacecraft. Our Institute contributed to the mission with the #Rosina-instrument onboard Rosetta, and is also involved in the future #CometInterceptor mission, which will target a comet entering the inner solar system for the first time, giving us a window to the very origins of our system.

A Touch of Space Weather Poster is now on display at ESWW conference in Coimbra. The poster includes two examples of the tactile images: Deviation of charged particles by the Earth's magnetic field, and Aurora. In case you are at the ESWW conference, the poster wil stay up till Wednesday evening. Everyone is welcome to come and talk to me during the poster sessions. 😉