Center for Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics at Mackenzie

CRAAM

Objectives

Objectives

Technical-scientific researches of excellence in the areas of Radio Sciences, Solar Physics, Solar Flares, Sun-Earth Relations and Space Weather, Earth's Atmosphere, Space Geodesy, Stellar Activity and Exoplanets, Instrumentation, Terahertz Technology. Operation of experimental resources, highlighting the Solar Submillimeter Telescope, Millimeter Solar Telescopes (POEMAS), VLF tracking receiver stations (Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Mexico), Terahertz Space Experiment SOLAR-T (with GRIPS, Berkeley), Solar Telescope in THz and Visible (El Leoncito and São Paulo), Northeast Space Radio Observatory (Eusébio, CE), Itapetinga Radio Observatory (Atibaia, SP), Cosmic Particle Detectors, GNSS and ionosonde systems in Antarctic Experiments, Atmospheric Electric Field. Subsidize the graduate program in Geospatial Sciences and Applications, CAGE of EE/UPM. Support for teaching and training at levels of scientific initiation, masters, doctorate and postdoctoral

Projects/Main impact programs

1) Space Geodesy

a) Realization of services and research through a renewed contract with NASA-Mackenzie, included in the AEB-NASA Agreement (2014-2021). Mackenzie officially represents AEB before NASA in space geodesy. Operations and observations of VLBI-geodesic (very long baseline radio interferometry), from GNSS satellites, from the radio observatory in Eusebio, CE, (near Fortaleza), within INPE dependencies and with the collaboration of INPE, mobilizing the antenna of 14.2 m, state-of- the-art instrumentation, atomic hydrogen standard - the only and most accurate in Brazil.

b) Practical implementation of a new geo-referencing system (time synchronization, navigation and geo-positioning), Geolocal2, independent of GPS, with system patent application and registration of simulation software deposited by Mackenzie. Fundraising of non-reimbursable resources of agencies and companies for construction of pilot operating system.

c) Implement, in the coming years, complete replacement of the antenna and instrumentation for VLBI-geodesic of Eusébio, CE, by the new generation of fiducial terminal, denominated "VLBI2010", with NASA partnership. Integration with the Global Geodetic Observatory System, GGOS, partnerships B.K. Geodäsie (Germany) and NASA. Fundraising of non-refundable funds from Brazilian agencies (BNDES and FINEP).

(2) Research, development, construction of sensor devices for distant and mid and far infra-red (terahertz band). Use for solar observations in space (high altitude sites, stratospheric balloons, satellites). International cooperation, standing out U. California in Berkeley, in Santa Barbara, NASA, NSF / NSO, Conicet.

(3) Integrate Consortium with two or three US universities and NASA laboratory for observations in the far infrared range (30 and 60 THz) with McMath-Pierce solar telescope in Kitt Peak, AZ, one of the largest in the world, through a Cooperation Agreement in negotiation with NOS / National Science Foundation.

(4) Reactivation of the Itapetinga Radio Observatory (Atibaia) for uses and applications in solar and non-solar researches, education, instrumental developments, and eventual implementation of technological park.

(5) Solar and geophysical observations with Mackenzie frontier instrumentation installed in El Leoncito, Argentinean Andes, from an updated Mackenzie-Conicet agreement until at least the end of the present solar cycle (2020). Complement with solar observations in the far infrared at Mackenzie campus in São Paulo. Deployment of new discoveries, exploration for genuine works of theoretical interpretation, and opening of new fronts of scientific and technological research.

(6) Physics of solar terrestrial relations. Emphasis on global propagation anomalies of VLF waves and ionospheric scintillation. Effects of space weather on the planet, on GNSS satellite signals, on the constitution of the upper atmosphere and troposphere, using tracking stations, neutron detectors, atmospheric electric field meters, and ionospheric radio-sounding in Brazil, Latin America and Antarctica.

(7) Co-participation in large inter-institutional cooperative ventures in the country, with emphasis on current participations: INCT Namitec (National Institute of Science and Technology of Micro and Nanoelectronic Systems), INCT APA (National Institute of Antarctic Research Science and Technology (With USP, ESA / CNES and AEB), Project Corot - exoplanets (with USP, ESA/CNES and AEB), Project CTA Cherenkov Telescope Array (with USP, UFRJ, CBPF, and multinational agencies) and Project (National Institute of Science and Technology in Astrophysics), and project Llama (radio-astronomy, with USP-IAR, Brazil-Argentina)