IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2023 - 154

AS AN INTERSESSION
BREAK, THE ATTENDEES
VISITED THE FACILITIES
FOR THE UOA'S
AUCKLAND PROGRAM
FOR SPACE SYSTEMS.
systems in the past, present, and future but also extended
to planetary missions. The SAR portion of the summer
school concluded with interferometry, where Dr. Hensley
covered the principles of interferometry
and interferometric
correlation properties and
how these might be exploited
for geophysical measurements.
As a brief interlude, Andrew
Johnson, deputy head of the
NZSA (cosponsor of the summer
school), made a virtual address
and welcome (originally
intended as an in-person address)
(Figure 8).
In the first afternoon session, Dr. Andrew O'Brien introduced
GNSS-R and SoOp (Figure 9). He began by explaining
how SoOp can be exploited to form a bistatic radar
and then gave examples of missions and instruments, example
measurements, and models. Historical applications
of SoOp, such as ocean altimetry, soil-moisture measurements,
ocean winds, and inland inundation, were presented.
Dr. O'Brien's inspirational talk concluded with insights
into current investigations and advances within this growing
research field.
As an intersession break, the attendees visited the facilities
for the UoA's Auckland Program for Space Systems
(APSS). Jim Hefkey provided an overview of the undergraduate
CubeSat mission design competition that brings
together multidisciplinary teams to collaboratively formulate
and design an end-to-end mission (Figure 10).
Rocket Lab supports the program by launching the winning
satellite.
The day concluded with Dr. Scott Gleason conducting
a lab exercise for GNSS-R Level 1 calibration overview and
simulation (Figure 11). Using a simulator, students could
generate example GNSS-R observations for a receiver on a
satellite in any orbit. These provided the input data needed
to perform a calibration with an off-line script.
DAY 4: ROCKET LAB TOUR, FINAL
LECTURE, AND PIZZA!
The final day commenced with a tour of Rocket Lab
(Figure 12). Participants were guided through the complete
fabrication and assembly facilities, getting a first-hand view
of launch vehicles in different stages of assembly. Rocket
Lab's Space Ambassador encouraged those interested to
reach out for career opportunities.
The students returned for the last technical lecture,
which was given virtually by Prof. Chris Ruf (Figure 13).
This lecture concluded the SoOP portion of the course and
went through the sensor design process, from science objectives
to instrument engineering requirements. The IFT-R3S
summer school concluded with a pizza lunch at the APSS
lab and a demonstration of the Rongowai airborne GNSS-R
mission's payload operations (Figure 14).
SUMMARY
The second IFT-R3S encountered a series of formidable
challenges. Not only was the event delayed by two years,
but it took place within a postpandemic context, where
there still existed a notable reluctance toward in-person student
engagement. Despite these obstacles, the small group
that gathered displayed remarkable interest and enthusiasm,
and their feedback was uniformly positive.
Focused on remote sensing instrumentation, and enFIGURE
8. Deputy head of the NZSA Andrew Johnson addressing
the class.
compassing subjects including foundational radar principles,
SAR, interferometry, GNSS-R, and SoOp, the summer
FIGURE 9. Dr. Andrew O'Brien introducing signals of opportunity
(SoOp).
154
FIGURE 10. Jim Hefkey with a cubesat talking about the Auckland
Program for Space Systems.
IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2023
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - December 2023

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