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Sun-Earth Connection Missions



Listing as of August 2002.

ACE (1997 – )
Advanced Composition Explorer
Mission Page & Purpose: http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/ace/
Study of the physics and chemistry of the solar corona, the solar wind, and the interstellar medium.
Education Page:

http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov
Cosmic and Heliospheric Learning Center

Cluster II (2000 – )
Mission Page & Purpose: http://sci.esa.int/cluster
Study of Earth’s magnetic field, electric surroundings, and the effects of the solar wind on the Earth’s protective magnetosphere.
Education Page:

http://istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/outreach

CRRES (1990 – 1991) Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite
Mission Page & Purpose:

www.ball.com/aerospace/crres.html
To Find out how Earth’s radiation environment affects microelectronic circuitry; the composition of the Earth’s radiation belts; how the magnetosphere interacts with the ionosphere.

Education Page:

No education page.

FAST (1996 – ) Fast Auroral SnapshoT Explorer
Mission Page & Purpose:

http://plasma2.ssl.berkeley.edu/fast
To study how the particles and fields in the upper atmosphere change during an aurora.

Education Page:

http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/fast_epo/

Genesis (2001 – )
Mission Page & Purpose:

www.genesismission.org
The search for origins of the universe through the study of solar wind and fusion chemistry.

Education Page:

www.genesismission.org/educate

Geospace Electrodynamic Connections (GEC) (2008 – )
Mission Page & Purpose:

http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov/missions/gec/gec.htm
GEC will determine how the ionosphere-thermosphere (I-T) system reponds to magnetosphere forcing and how the I-T system is dynamically coupled to the magnetosphere.

Education Page:

http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov/educ_out/educ_out.htm

GEOTAIL (1992 – )
Mission Page & Purpose:

http://istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/geotail
Study of the magnetotail region and the change over time, and how the magnetotail, plasma sheet, and magnetopause interact.

Education Page:

http://istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/outreach

IMAGE (2000 – ) Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration
Mission Page & Purpose:

http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov
Study of how the magnetosphere is changed by its interaction with the solar wind; how plasmas are transported from place to place within the magnetosphere; the loss of magnetospheric plasmas from the system during storms.

Education Page:

http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry

IMEX (2001 – ) Inner Magnetosphere Explorer
Mission Page & Purpose:

http://ham.space.umn.edu/spacephys/imex.html
To provide global imaging of the aurora, ring current, and plasmaspheric populations. IMEX will provide in situ measurements, particularly of electric fields and ring current populations, and cross-calibration, while TWINS and IMAGE will provide a context for interpreting the IMEX measurements.

Education Page:

No Education Page

IMP-8 (1973 – ) Interplanetary Monitoring Platform
Mission Page & Purpose:

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/imp-8.html
MP-8 measures the magnetic fields, plasmas, and energetic charged particles (e.g., cosmic rays) of Earth’s magnetotail and magnetosheath and of the near-Earth solar wind. IMP-8 is one of the longest running solar-terrestrial spacecrafts. The year 2002 marks this spacecraft’s 29th year.

Education Page:

No Education Page

INTERBALL (1995 – )

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://www.iki.rssi.ru/interball.html
Study of the relationship between processes in the geotail and the particle acceleration above the auroral oval; how solar flares and X-ray bursts affect the magnetotail and cusp regions.

Education Page:

No Education Page

ISTP (mutiple missions) International Solar-Terrestrial Physics Program

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://istp.gsfc.nasa.gov
Participating Missions:
• CLUSTER II • POLAR • WIND
• GEOTAIL • SOHO
(find these listed alphabetically)

Education Page:

http://istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/outreach

LWS (mutiple missions) Living With a Star Program

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://lws.gsfc.nasa.gov
Participating Missions:
• IM • SDO
• RBM • Solar Sentinels
(find these listed alphabetically)

Education Page:

http://lws.gsfc.nasa.gov/lws_education.htm

MMS (2006 – ) Magnetospheric MultiScale

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov/missions/mc/mc.htm
This group of nano-satellites will enable us to determine the dynamics of the magnetotail, understand its responses to the solar wind, and reveal the linkages between local and global processes.

Education Page:

http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov/educ_out/educ_out.htm

MC (2010 – ) Magnetospheric Constellation

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov/missions/mms/mms.htm
MMS will quantitatively determine the geoeffectiveness of solar processes on the geospace system by exploring the fundamental physics underlying the plasma processes that control magnetospheric dynamics.

Education Page:

http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov/educ_out/educ_out.htm

Polar (1996 – )

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/polar
Study of the role of the ionosphere in geomagnetic storms; the properties of the particles and fields near the Earth’s polar regions and how energy from the magnetosphere is deposited into the upper atmosphere and auroral regions.

Education Page:

http://istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/outreach

RHESSI (2001 – ) High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager
Mission Page & Purpose:

http://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/HESSI
Study of solar flares, the effect on electron and proton acceleration and the origin of energy for solar flares.

Education Page:

http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/HESSI_epo

SAMPEX (1992 – ) Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://surya.umd.edu/www/sampex.html
Study of how high-energy particles entering the magnetosphere affect Earth’s upper atmosphere; the isotopic composition of solar flares, and how cosmic rays are affected by the solar activity cycle.

Education Page:

http://surya.umd.edu/www/outreach.html

SNOE (1998 – )

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://lasp.colorado.edu/snoe
To measure nitric oxide density in the terrestrial lower thermosphere (100-200 km altitude) and analyze the energy inputs to that region from the Sun and magnetosphere that create it and cause its abundance to vary dramatically.

Education Page:

No Education Page

SOHO (1995 – ) Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov
Study of how the solar corona is heated, the internal structure of the Sun, and what causes the activity seen on the surface ot the Sun.

Education Page:

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/explore
Also visit -
Stanford Solar Center:

http://solar-center.stanford.edu

Solar-B (2005 – )

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov/missions/solar-b/solar-b.htm
Solar-B seeks to understand the magnetic origins of solar activity and variability and how they influence and sometimes change the Earth’s environment.

Education Page:

http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov/educ_out/educ_out.htm

Solar Probe (2007 – )

Mission Page & Purpose:

www.jpl.nasa.gov/ice_fire//sprobe.htm
To find the source regions of the fast and slow solar wind at maximum and minimum solar activity; locate the source and trace the flow of energy that heats the corona; determine the structure of the polar magnetic field and its relationship with the overlying corona; and determine the role of plasma turbulence in the production of solar wind and energetic particles.

Education Page:

www.jpl.nasa.gov/ice_fire//outreach

Spartan 201-05 (1993, 1994, 1995)

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://umbra.gsfc.nasa.gov/spartan
Study of how the solar corona expands to become the solar wind; what the velocities and temperatures at the base of the solar wind are and how the solar wind is accelerated.

Education Page:

No Education Page

STEREO (2004 – ) Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov/missions/stereo/stereo.htm
STEREO will determine how coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are produced, how they evolve in the solar corona and how CME particles accelerate. It will also uncover the 3-D structure of a CME en route to Earth.

Education Page:

http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov/educ_out/educ_out.htm

STP (mutiple missions) Solar Terrestrial Probes Program

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov
Participating Missions:
• GEC • Solar-B
• MC • STEREO
• MMS • TIMED
(find these listed alphabetically)

Education Page:

No Education Page

TIMED (2001 – ) Thermosphere•Ionosphere•Mesosphere•Energetic Dynamics

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov/missions/timed/timed.htm
TIMED will study the atmospheric properties (e.g., winds, temperature, chemical constitiuents, and energetics) of the Mesosphere, Lower Thermosphere, and Ionosphere (MLTI) region on a global scale.

Education Page:

http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov

TRACE (1998 – )

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://vestige.lmsal.com/TRACE
Study of the 3-D structure of features seen on the Sun’s surface; how the corona is heated; and what triggers solar flares.

Education Page:

http://vestige.lmsal.com/TRACE/Public/eduprodu.htm

TWINS (2003 – ) Two Wide-angle Imaging Neutral-atom Spectrometers

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://nis-www.lanl.gov/nis-projects/twins
This mission will provide new ways for stereoscopic imaging of Earth’s plasma environment in order to study its dynamics.

Education Page:

No Education Page

Ulysses (1990 – )

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov
To study what the solar wind looks like near the poles of the Sun; what the Sun’s magnetic field looks like near its poles; and how the polar wind and magnetic field change during maximum sunspot conditions.

Education Page:

http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov/outreach/outreach.html

Voyager (1997 – )

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/
– or –
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/
See Mission pages for outreach components
To find the solar heliopause located beyond the orbit of Pluto; to uncover the properties of the interstellar medium, and to study the interaction of the interstellar medium and the solar wind.

Education Page:

No Education Page

Wind (1994 – )

Mission Page & Purpose:

http://istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/wind
To study plasma interactions as the solar wind impacts the Earth’s magnetosphere; and how energy is transported out of the Earth’s magnetosphere and into the upstream solar wind.

Education Page:

http://istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/istp/outreach

Yohkoh (1991 – )

Mission Page & Purpose:

www.lmsal.com/SXT/Yohkoh
To observe how the Sun produces X-ray flares and other activity; how the level of activity changes over time; and how the chromosphere and corona are heated.

Education Page:

No Education Page

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