REQUIREMENTS for Assisted Real-Time Computation and Navigation

• Main Authors: Dr. Glenn Schneider, Ph. D
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Antarctic; Austral; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.71.5669; http://nicmosis.as.arizona.edu:8000/ECLIPSE_WEB/SEC_2004/SEC2004_SCHNEIDER_QF2901.pdf

Until the austral summer of 2003 no total solar eclipse had ever been observed from Antarctica both because of the infrequency of occurrence and the logistical complexities associated with Antarctic operations. The total solar eclipse of 23 November 2003 U.T. (TSE2003), the first in the Antarctic since 12 November 1985, was no less challenging and may similarly have gone unobserved due to the geographic remoteness of the path of totality. Yet, interest in securing phenomenological observations of, and associated with, the eclipse by members of the scientific research communities engaged in astronomy, solar physics, astrodynamics, aeronomy and upper atmospheric physics, as well as educators and amateur astronomers has been extremely high and provided the impetus for breaking this paradigm of elusivity regarding Antarctic eclipses in the historical record of science and exploration. The development of a flight concept to enable airborne observations, using a dedicated aircraft chartered from QANTAS Airlines, permitted the previously unobtainable to be accomplished. Doing so, successfully, required detailed preparatory planning for the execution of such a flight. The technical groundwork to achieving this goal had been pursued with diligence for four years prior to TSE2003 and was predicated on