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Shing Fung

Publications and source records attributed to Shing Fung.

6 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The International Space Station Lightning Imaging Sensor (ISS LIS): An Overview of More Than Five Years of Science and Operations, With a Look Toward the Future of Spaceborne Lightning Observations

- ISS LIS is the flight spare of the original Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) LIS, which was kept in storage since the 1990s. - Modified and then integrated as a hosted payload on DoD Space Test Program-Houston 5 (STP-H5). Launched on SpaceX CRS-10 on February 19, 2017. - LIS measures global lightning (amount, rate, radiant energy) during day and night, with storm-scale resolution, millisecond timing, and high, spatially uniform detection efficiency.

Lightning↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

On The Ultimate Fate of Interplanetary Dust

Interplanetary dust is interesting both from a physical point of view and from the awareness that the population poses a substantial collision risk to manned and unmanned spacecraft alike. Insight into the time evolution of the population gives important insights into solar system formation and, we argue, will offer clues as to the behavior of solar cycles predating modern ways of viewing the sun (e.g., sun spot counting, magnetograms, etc.). In addition, knowing how the dust population moves under the variety of forces each grain experiences will inform and better prepare manned and robotic spacecraft missions to mitigate the risk posed by dust. With these aims in mind, we developed a simple dynamical model for dust motion based on the work of Czechowski and Mann [1]. A byproduct of that development is a clear analytic model that demonstrates how the interplay of the Poynting-Robertson and Lorenz perturbation forces on the Keplerian motion of charged dust grains around the Sun can result in dust populations that move inward, outward, or remain confined in annular rings about the Sun. The timing of any of these behaviors is strongly dependent on the physical properties of the grain (mass, charge and reflectivity) and the evolution of the Sun’s dipole field.

Force models↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Analysis of Ground-Based Observations of TLES From Spritacular Project Database

Spritacular is a citizen science project that was launched in October of 2022. It provides a space for anyone to submit their transient luminous event (TLE) images along with observational information, i.e. time, geographic location, direction, camera setup. Along with submissions, one can also help identify different types of TLEs in the images submitted. Since its inception hundreds of images have been submitted to the project database by its users. Not only does the database itself provide a record of observations, but these submissions allow for scientists with access to a wider array of observational platforms to obtain a better understanding of TLE’s without having to chase or hunt for them. Citizen science databases come with pros and cons when dealing with observational science and trying to work across different platforms. Using this database, over one hundred sprites were found to have accurate pointing and adequate temporal resolution to attempt to match both ground based (National Lightning Detection Network [NLDN]) and satellite based (Geostationary Lightning Mapper [GLM]) sensors. A statistical analysis of these TLE properties as well as a discussion about the implications these measurements have on the hunt for TLEs both in current space based observational platforms such as the Atmosphere-Space Interaction Monitor (ASIM), International Space Station Lightning Imaging Sensor (ISS-LIS), and GLM or legacy satellite instruments such as the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite will be presented.

T. Daniel Walker↗