Top: Group photo of Russian and South African delegates attending the opening function. Left: Ribbon cutting by Dr Thomas Auf der Heyde, Deputy Director-General: Research Development and Support, Department of Science and Technology and Mr Sergey Saveliev, Deputy Director General, State Space Corporation «Roscosmos».

The Deputy Director General on International Cooperation of the State Space Corporation «Roscosmos», Mr. Sergey Saveliev said (sic): “The history of the relationship between South Africa and Russia counts more than 25 years of mutually beneficial and successful cooperation and friendship. The launch of a new high-tech space system produced by Russia and installed within South Africa is not only another confirmation of our friendly relations but also a solid ground for further development of the scientific cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Africa.”
 
Director General of JC «RPC «PSI», Dr. Yury Roy said (sic): “We are happy to see the result of our collaborative work and feel optimistic about future endeavours – we  express our readiness to take part in potential new projects in collaboration with the South African party.”
 
Acting Managing Director of HartRAO, Prof. Ludwig Combrinck said (sic): “At the present moment we are developing cooperation with Russian institutions and enterprises at multiple levels, and today's event is another step forward in the field of science for both our countries.”
 
The system «Sazhen-TM+OWS» installed in South Africa has become the second laser and radio ranging system of the foreign segment of the «Roscosmos» network of stations developed in support of GLONASS (the Russian GLObal NAvigation Satellite System). The first «Sazhen-TM+OWS» system was commissioned on 14 July 2014 in the city of Brasilia, Brazil. This system is designed to perform precision orbital measurements of spacecraft – those equipped with laser retro-reflectors. The system can range to satellites with an orbital altitude of up to 25 000 km, do continuous tracking of navigation signals of the GLONASS and GPS satellites, perform measurement of the current navigation parameters and receive navigation messages transmitted from the satellites.

DST News article:

• http://www.dst.gov.za/index.php/media-room/latest-news/2128-russian-satellite-laser-and-radio-ranging-system-officially-been-inaugurated-in-south-africa

Russian press releases:

• «Roscosmos» website: www.roscosmos.ru/23280/
• JC «RPC «PSI» website: http://npk-spp.ru/news/667-stantciya-v-uar-vvedena-v-ekspluatatsiyu.html  
• Russian Embassy in South Africa's website: http://www.russianembassy.org.za/index.php/russian-sa-relations/highlights-of-russian-sa-relations/331-officially-unveiling-the-hartrao-based-cutting-edge-tech-quantum-optical-station-of-the-glonass-satellite-navigation-system

During April 2014, HartRAO installed a seismometer station on Marion Island, as part of the SANAP Space Geodesy project (principal investigator Prof. Ludwig Combrinck) and as a node of a new academic seismic network. This installation is in collaboration with Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), with Dr. Stoffel Fourie as project leader of the academic seismic network. Marion Island is located between South Africa and Antarctica at 46.9 degrees South and 37.75 degrees South, which on the edge of the African continental plate, close to the contact zone with the Antarctic plate. Two known volcanic activities have been recorded. The first observed eruption was during November 1980  and the second on the 24th of June 2004.

Although the island is very noisy for a seismic installation due to the ocean wave noise and vibrations imparted by the strong winds, it is expected that the placement of the sesimic station will provide valuable information concerning seismic activity on Marion Island.

In addition to the existing Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) receiver, tide gauge and the French DORIS system, which are all utilised to monitor positional displacements of the Earth, the installation of a seismometer and accelerometer was successfully completed during the April 2014 Marion Island takeover. This new installation will benefit crustal motion and seismic hazard research and monitoring as well as support tsunami monitoring. The equipment will operate within the Global Seismographic Network (GSN) and all data will be freely available to the global scientific community.

The GSN is the principal global source of data and information for earthquake locations, earthquake hazard mitigation, and earthquake emergency response. In collaboration with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Tsunami Warning Centers, the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA), and the Australian Tsunami Warning System, the GSN provides essential data for tsunami warning response globally. The Marion Island GNSS and tide gauge are part of global tsunami monitoring networks (it resorts under the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System). The GSN operates with close ties to the International Monitoring System (IMS) for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), where nearly 30 GSN stations are now linked directly to the CTBTO International Data Centre. The GSN is an official observing system within the Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS).

A strong earthquake, registered as M 6.1 (USGS), occurred 244 km WNW of Marion Island, on July 22, 2013 at 07:01 UTC. USGS registered M 6.1 at depth of 10 km, EMSC registered initially M 6.1 but later changed to M 6.3 at depth of 33 km, GEOFON (GFZ, Potsdam who has provided SA with the tide gauge and GNSS equipment) registered M 6.3 at depth of 10 km. The epicentre was located at coordinates 46.042°S 34.825°E. This addition of a seismometer on Marion Island will improve locational abilities in three dimensions and will provide valuable data from an area that has no seismic instruments (see Figure 1).
 

Figure 1. A seismic station located on Marion Island will provide valuable data from an area that is very sparsely equipped.


The seismic installation consists of a stainless steel box, containing the seismometer, accelerometer (see Figure 2), logger unit and power conditioning unit. The box is bolted onto an existing concrete pillar close to the DORIS hut.
 

Figure 2. The  seismometer  installation  on Marion Island. The DORIS hut is in the background. Power and an ethernet cable is fed from the hut to the seismometer.

The installation of a seismic monitoring station at Marion Island is of benefit to the global community and will provide valuable data concerning seismic activity at the Prince Edward Islands. In particular it will play a valuable role in the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System. The scientific instrumentation consumes low power, is unobtrusive and will have small, if any, impact on the environment.

Repair work was done to the DORIS system, fortunately the system became fully functional after the DORIS antenna was replaced. The location of the DORIS antenna was surveyed in and tied via GPS to the permament Marion Island GNSS receiver installation, which is located close to the tide gauge (Figures 3 and 4). I had a lot of support from Carson McAfee, Philip Mey and Mpho Mphego of the South African Space Agency (SANSA). Mpho has taken over from Carson as resident SANSA engineer for the year as part of the overwintering team so is invaluable in terms of future support during the year.



 
Prof. Ludwig Combrinck
ludwig@hartrao.ac.za
Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory
SANAP Space Geodesy Project, SNA2011120100006.

• Global Navigation Satellite systems (GNSS): Regional stations (example), products (example) and Percipitable Water Vapour (example)

• Very Long Baseline Interferometric (VLBI) In-house processed results of experiments in which HartRAO (26m or 15m or both) has participated. Global solution example

• Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) data of the HartRAO SLR (example) and the new S/LLR once completed

• Tide Gauge data (TIGA) from regional stations (example)

• Seismic data of the whole network of ~ 15 seismic vaults which is currently under construction (example 1 and example 2)

• Gravimetric data as obtained from various instruments in the region 

• Weather data (pressure, humidity, temperature, wind) from several of our geodetic stations

1. A new rack-mount type PC system with Fedora Linux
2. A new Trimble receiver
3. A new UPS to properly interface with the PC
4. A network switch to replace the broken unit   

The new GPS system at Sutherland.

Left: To the left, the Tide Gauge, and on the right, the pole with the GPS Station. The antennae is right at the top, below it is the box containing the power supply and power backup, GPS Receiver and Wireless modem.  Below: Inside the box.

1. Replace Receiver-side battery

1. Replace Receiver-side Power Supply

1. Replace PC UPS battery

1. Reboot and test PC

1. Check internet connectivity as well as remote login functionality

1. Check for proper data transfer

As part of this we had to buy new locks for the Receiver box (the old ones were rusted to such an extent that we had to break it open!) we encountered a very strange traffic sign...

At SALRO, Dr Attieh Al-ghamdi and Dr Ludwig CombrinckVisit to Saudi Arabian Laser Ranging Observatory (SALRO)
King AbdulAziz City of Science and Technology (KACST)

The installation is scientifically important, since it will be able to provide useful data for African geodynamics research, in particular regarding the relative motions of the Nubia and Somalia plates. Furthermore, it fills a very big gap in the IGS (International GNSS Service) network of receivers, which is used for a wide field of research in geodesy.

The installed Topcon GB-1000 receiver is the first GNSS (American GPS + Russian GLONASS) receiver to be installed as a permanent IGS station in Africa, with 40 channels for the simultaneous dual-frequency tracking of navigation satellites. A future upgrade could enable the receiver to also track European Galileo satellites.

The success of the project is due to the fantastic support from the guys in the HartRAO workshops, in particular André van der Merwe (who made a new antenna shaft at short notice), Piet Louw (who helped to get all the necessary equipment ready in time), Pieter Stronkhorst (who provided useful advice) and fellow student Roelf Botha (who helped on the software and communications side).

Click on image for LARGE version
A view of the GNSS antenna and radome, located on the roof of the National Agriculture Directorate's offices in Nampula, Moçambique.

GNSS Receiver installed in Nampula, Moçambique

• Science takes you places.
• Some things money can’t buy.