An aurora as seen by the Far-Ultraviolet (FUV) Imaging System on board IMAGE
The Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE or Explorer 78) is a NASA MIDEX mission that is studying the global response of the Earth's magnetosphere to changes in the solar wind. It was launched March 3, 2000 by a Delta II from Vandenberg AFB.
It is in orbit 1000 km by 46,000 km orbit around the Earth, with an inclination of 90° (so it passes over the poles) and a 14.5 hour period. IMAGE is the first spacecraft dedicated to observing the magnetosphere of Earth and produces comprehensive global images of plasma in the inner magnetosphere. It does this using five instruments
NASA'sExplorer spacecraft series is not simply the longest running series of spacecraft, it has produced highly-durable (i.e., well-engineered) spacecraft as well.
Of the 73 successful Explorer missions depicted, fully five of them had had missions which lasted 10 or more years, the longest of which (IMP 8) has been operational for over 26 years now and still produces valuable information about the solar wind.
Pressure Gauge (PSA) Rice 73-101A-17 AE-C,Magnetometer (MAG) Zmuda 73-101A-18 AE-C,Temperature Alarm (TAL) Caruso Explorer 52 74-040A Hawkeye 1 06/03/74 NASA-LARC 74-040A-01 Hawkeye,Magnetometer Van Allen 74-040A-02 Hawkeye,LEPEDEA Frank 74-040A-03 Hawkeye,ELF-VLF Gurnett Explorer 53 75-037A SAS-C 05/07/75 NASA-GSFC 75-037A-01 SAS-C,Extragalactic 1.5-10KeV Clark 75-037A-02 SAS-C,Scorpio Monitor 0.4-80KeV Clark 75-037A-03 SAS-C,Galactic Abs.
Explorer 73 (TRACE) and Explorer 74 (SWAS) are the latest additions to the series.
NASA'sExplorer spacecraft series is not simply the longest running series of spacecraft, it has produced highly-durable (i.e., well-engineered) spacecraft as well.
Of the 72 successful Explorer missions, fully five of them have had missions which lasted 10 or more years, the longest of which (IMP 8) has been operational for 25 years now and still produces valuable information about the solar wind.
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