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The Cluster mission is an European Space Agency (ESA) unmanned space mission mission to study the Earth's magnetosphere using four identical spacecraft flying in a tetrahedral formation. The first four Cluster spacecraft were lost in the Ariane 5 flight failure on 1996 June 4, leading to the rebuilding of four new spacecraft and their successful launching in 2000 on Soyuz-Fregat rockets. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1143x757, 282 KB) Cluster satellite FM2 in the test phase, 1995 source: private image by de:Benutzer:Phrood first upload on german Wikipedia by de:Benutzer:Phrood File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1143x757, 282 KB) Cluster satellite FM2 in the test phase, 1995 source: private image by de:Benutzer:Phrood first upload on german Wikipedia by de:Benutzer:Phrood File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages...
The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975, is an inter-governmental organization dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 17 member states. ...
Unmanned space missions are those using remote-controlled spacecraft. ...
A magnetosphere is the region around an astronomical object in which phenomena are dominated or organized by its magnetic field. ...
A tetrahedron (plural: tetrahedra) is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, three of which meet at each vertex. ...
Flight 501, which took place on on June 4, 1996, was the first test flight of the Ariane 5 expendable launch system. ...
1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...
June 4 is the 155th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (156th in leap years), with 210 days remaining. ...
This article is about the year 2000. ...
Mission overview - 4 satellites, 4-dimensional The four identical Cluster satellites research the protective magnetosphere of the Earth that shields us from the continual solar wind. Cluster FM5 to FM8 (FM1 to FM4 were lost in the 1996 failed launch) measure three dimensional data from the collision of the solar wind with the Earth's magnetic field, its changes over time and the resulting effects on near-Earth space and its atmosphere including aurorae and even electrical outages. A magnetosphere is the region around an astronomical object in which phenomena are dominated or organized by its magnetic field. ...
The plasma in the solar wind meeting the heliopause For the British comic, see Solar Wind (comic). ...
Flight 501, which took place on on June 4, 1996, was the first test flight of the Ariane 5 expendable launch system. ...
:For other senses of this word, see dimension (disambiguation). ...
Aurora borealis Aurora borealis The aurora is a bright glow observed in the night sky, usually in the polar zone. ...
The satellites are cylindrical (290 x 130 cm, see [1]) and are spin-stabilised at 15 rotations per minute. Their solar cells provide 224 watts power for instruments and communications. The four spacecraft manoeuvre into various geometric constellations in order to study the magnetospheric structure and boundaries. The propellant for the manoeuvres makes up approximately half of the spacecrafts' launch weight. A solar cell, made from a monocrystalline silicon wafer A solar cell (or a photovoltaic cell) is a semiconductor device that converts photons from the sun (solar light) into electricity. ...
The watt (symbol: W) is the SI derived unit of power, equal to one joule per second. ...
Each satellite carries a scientific payload of 11 instruments designed to study the small-scale plasma structures in space and time in the key plasma regions: the solar wind and bow shock, magnetopause, polar cusp, magnetotail and the auroral zone. The plasma in the solar wind meeting the heliopause For the British comic, see Solar Wind (comic). ...
In a planetary magnetosphere, the bow shock is the boundary at which the solar wind abruptly drops as a result of its approach to the magnetopause. ...
A magnetopause flows along the boundary between a magnetic field, (see: magnetosphere) and surrounding plasma. ...
Mission History On 2000 July 16, a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launched two of the Clusters (Salsa and Samba) into a parking orbit from where they maneuvered under their own power into a 19,000 by 119,000 kilometre orbit with a period of 57 hours. Three weeks later on 2000 August 9 another Soyuz-Fregat rocket lifted the remaining two Cluster spacecraft (Rumba and Tango) into similar orbits. This article is about the year 2000. ...
July 16 is the 197th day (198th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 168 days remaining. ...
Soyuz rocket on launch pad. ...
The Baikonur Cosmodrome (Kazakh: Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, Bayqoñır ÄŸarış aylağı; Russian: КоÑмодром Байконур, Kosmodrom Baykonur), also called Tyuratam, is the worlds oldest and largest working space launch facility. ...
km redirects here. ...
In physics, an orbit is the path that an object makes, around another object, whilst under the influence of a source of centripetal force, such as gravity. ...
This article is about the year 2000. ...
August 9 is the 221st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (222nd in leap years), with 144 days remaining. ...
The European Space Agency (ESA) ran a competition to name the Cluster satellites, which attracted participants from many countries. Ray Cotton from the United Kingdom won with the names Rumba, Tango, Salsa and Samba. Ray's town of residence, Bristol, was awarded with scale models of the satellites in recognition of the naming and connection with the satellites.
Originally planned to last until the end of 2003, the mission has now been extend twice. The first extension took the mission from 2004 until 2005 and the second from 2005 until the end of 2009.
Constellation at the end of 2003 In December 2003 the four clusters formed a pyramidal structure of about 200 kilometres separation, which has been extended by 2005 to several thousand kilometres. A pyramid is any three-dimensional structure where the upper surfaces are triangular and converge on one point. ...
The very elliptical orbits brings each satellite into many regions allowing its instruments to measure different magnetic effects:
- charged particles
- electric and magnetic fields
- effects between high enery solar particles and Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field.
Chinese "Double Star" 2003 In late 2003 and the middle of 2004 the China National Space Administration launched the Double Star satellites that work together with Cluster to make synchronous measurements of the magnetosphere at much greater spacecraft separations. The China National Space Administration (中国国家航天局) is the civilian agency within the Peoples Republic of China which is responsible for national space policy within the space program of China. ...
For other uses of the term double star, see double star (disambiguation). ...
Partial list of discoveries
2002 - March 9 - discovery of vortices ranging in size from 40,000 down to around 100 kilometres in Earth's polar magnetic field
- April 20 - The first direct measurements of Earth's ring current density
March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (69th in Leap years). ...
April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ...
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