• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.51.1-51.1
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• 2019

The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has been developing a coronagraph in collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to install it on the International Space Station (ISS). The coronagraph will utilize spectral information to simultaneously measure electron density, temperature, and velocity. For this, we develop the coronagraph as a two-step process. First, we will perform a stratospheric balloon-borne experiment, so called BITSE, in 2019 with a new type of coronagraph. Second, the coronagraph will be installed and operate on the ISS (CODEX) in 2021 to address a number of questions (e.g., source and acceleration of solar wind, and coronal heating) that are both fundamental and practically important in the physics of the solar corona and of the heliosphere. In this presentation, we will introduce recent progresses.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.139-149
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• 2017

The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute plans to develop a coronagraph in collaboration with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and to install it on the International Space Station (ISS). The coronagraph is an externally occulted one-stage coronagraph with a field of view from 3 to 15 solar radii. The observation wavelength is approximately 400 nm, where strong Fraunhofer absorption lines from the photosphere experience thermal broadening and Doppler shift through scattering by coronal electrons. Photometric filter observations around this band enable the estimation of 2D electron temperature and electron velocity distribution in the corona. Together with a high time cadence (<12 min) of corona images used to determine the geometric and kinematic parameters of coronal mass ejections, the coronagraph will yield the spatial distribution of electron density by measuring the polarized brightness. For the purpose of technical demonstration, we intend to observe the total solar eclipse in August 2017 with the filter system and to perform a stratospheric balloon experiment in 2019 with the engineering model of the coronagraph. The coronagraph is planned to be installed on the ISS in 2021 for addressing a number of questions (e.g., coronal heating and solar wind acceleration) that are both fundamental and practically important in the physics of the solar corona and of the heliosphere.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.66.2-66.2
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• 2017

The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute plans to develop a coronagraph in collaboration with National Aeronautics and Space Administrative (NASA) and install it on the International Space Station (ISS). The coronagraph is an externally occulted one stage coronagraph with a field of view from 2.5 to 15 solar radii. The observation wavelength is approximately 400 nm where strong Fraunhofer absorption lines from the photosphere are scattered by coronal electrons. Photometric filter observation around this band enables the estimation of 2D electron temperature and electron velocity distribution in the corona. Together with the high time cadence (< 12 min) of corona images to determine the geometric and kinematic parameters of coronal mass ejections, the coronagraph will yield the spatial distribution of electron density by measuring the polarized brightness. For the purpose of technical demonstration, we intend to observe the total solar eclipse in 2017 August for the filter system and to perform a stratospheric balloon experiment in 2019 for the engineering model of the coronagraph. The coronagraph is planned to be installed on the ISS in 2021 for addressing a number of questions (e.g. coronal heating and solar wind acceleration) that are both fundamental and practically important in the physics of the solar corona and of the heliosphere.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.56.4-56.4
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• 2019

The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has been collaborating with the NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, to install a coronagraph on the International Space Station (ISS). The coronagraph will utilize spectral information to simultaneously measure electron density, temperature, and velocity. As a first step, we developed a new coronagraph and launched it on a stratospheric balloon in 2019 (BITSE) from Fort Sumner, New Mexico in USA. As the next step, the coronagraph will be be further developed, installed and operate on the ISS (CODEX) in 2022 to address a number of important questions (e.g., source and acceleration of solar wind, and coronal heating) in the physics of the solar corona and the heliosphere. Recently, BITSE has been launched at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. In this presentation, we will introduce the BITSE mission and discuss recent progress.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.44.2-44.2
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• 2020

The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has been collaborating with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), to install a diagnostic coronagraph on the International Space Station (ISS). The coronagraph is designed to obtain simultaneous measurements of electron density, temperature, and velocity using multiple filters in the 3-10 Rs range. In 2019, we developed a new coronagraph and launched it on a stratospheric balloon (BITSE) from Fort Sumner, New Mexico in USA. As the next step, the coronagraph will be further developed, installed and operated on the ISS (CODEX) in 2023 to understand the physical conditions in the solar wind acceleration region, and enable and validate the next generation space weather models. In this presentation, we will report recent progress and introduce future plan.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.66.3-66.3
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• 2017

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) is developing a coronagraph in collaboration with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) which will be installed on the International Space Station (ISS). The coronagraph can measure speed and temperature by using four filters approximately 400 nm and polarization filter in three different angles, differently with older coronagraphs. For the successful mission, it has development and experiment progress in three phases; total solar eclipse experiment in 2017, balloon experiment in 2019, and the ISS installation in 2021. As a first experiment, we developed a coronagraph without an occulter named with Diagnostic Coronagraph Experiment (DICE) for experiment for filter system and imaging sensor. We designed optics with a field of view from 2.5 to 15 solar radii. It has four filters approximately 400 nm and polarizer to measure speed and velocity of the solar corona. For the selection of filter or polarization angle, it has two mechanism parts; filter wheel assembly and a polarizer wheel assembly. Especially we used Core Flight System (CFS) platform which was developed by NASA, when we develop the coronagraph operation software. It provides us stability, reusability, and compatibility.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2016

The coronagraph is an instrument that enables the investigation of faint features in the vicinity of the Sun, particularly coronal mass ejections (CMEs). So far coronagraphic observations have been mainly used to determine the geometric and kinematic parameters of CMEs. Here, we introduce a new method for the determination of CME temperature using a two filter (4025 Å and 3934 Å) coronagraph system. The thermal motion of free electrons in CMEs broadens the absorption lines in the optical spectra that are produced by the Thomson scattering of visible light originating in the photosphere, which affects the intensity ratio at two different wavelengths. Thus the CME temperature can be inferred from the intensity ratio measured by the two filter coronagraph system. We demonstrate the method by invoking the graduated cylindrical shell (GCS) model for the 3-dimensional CME density distribution and discuss its significance.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.87-98
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• 2020

The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has been developing a next-generation coronagraph (NGC) in cooperation with NASA to measure the coronal electron density, temperature, and speed simultaneously, using four different optical filters around 400 nm. KASI organized an expedition to demonstrate the coronagraph measurement scheme and the instrumental technology during the 2017 total solar eclipse (TSE) across the USA. The observation site was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA. We built an eclipse observation system, the Diagnostic Coronal Experiment (DICE), composed of two identical telescopes to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. The observation was conducted at four wavelengths and three linear polarization directions in the limited total eclipse time of about 140 seconds. We successfully obtained polarization data for the corona but we were not able to obtain information on the coronal electron temperature and speed due to the low signal-to-noise ratio of the optical system and strong emission from prominences located at the western limb. In this study, we report the development of DICE and the observation results from the eclipse expedition. TSE observation and analysis with our self-developed instrument showed that a coronagraph needs to be designed carefully to achieve its scientific purpose. We gained valuable experience for future follow-up NASA-KASI joint missions: the Balloon-borne Investigation of the Temperature and Speed of Electrons in the Corona (BITSE) and the COronal Diagnostic EXperiment (CODEX).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.57.4-57.4
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• 2019

BITSE is a project of balloon-borne experiments for a next-generation solar coronagraph developed by a collaboration with KASI and NASA. The coronagraph is built to observe the linearly polarized brightness of solar corona with a polarization camera, a filter wheel, and an aperture door. For the observation, the coronagraph is supported by the power distribution unit (PDU), a pointing system WASP (Wallops Arc-Second Pointer), telemetry & telecommand system SIP (Support Instrument Package) which are developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Flight Facility, and Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility. The BITSE Command and Data Handling (C&DH) system used a cost-off-the-shelf electronics to process all data sent and received by the coronagraph, including the support system operation by RS232/422, USB3, Ethernet, and digital and analog signals. The flight software is developed using the core Flight System (cFS) which is a reusable software framework and set of reusable software applications which take advantage of a rich heritage of successful space mission of NASA. The flight software can process encoding and decoding data, control the subsystems, and provide observation autonomy. We developed a python-based testing framework to improve software reliability. The flight software development is one of the crucial contributions of KASI and an important milestone for the next project which is developing a solar coronagraph to be installed at International Space Station.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.42.2-42.2
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• 2019

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has been developing a next-generation coronagraph (NGC) in cooperation with NASA to measure the coronal electron density, temperature, and speed using four different filters around 400 nm. To demonstrate technology for the measurement through the 2017 total solar eclipse across the USA, KASI organized an expedition team to demonstrate the coronagraph measurement scheme and the instrumental technology. The observation site was in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA. We built an eclipse observation system, so-called Diagnostic Coronal Experiment (DICE), which is composed of two identical telescopes to improve a signal to noise ratio. The observation was conducted with 4 wavelengths and 3 linear polarization directions according to the planned schedule in a limited total eclipse time of about 140 seconds.Polarization information of corona from the data was successfully obtained but we failed to get the coronal electron temperature and speed information due to a low signal-to-noise ratio of the optical system. In this study, we report the development of DICE and observation results. TSE observation and analysis by using our own developed instrument gave an important lesson that a coronagraph should be carefully designed to archive the scientific purpose. This experience through TSE observation will be very useful for a success of NASA-KASI joint missions called the Balloon-borne Investigation of the Temperature and Speed of Electrons in the Corona (BITSE) and COronal Diagnostic EXperiment (CODEX).