NSSDCA ID: EE
The purpose of the Electrodynamics Explorer mission is to study the basic electrodynamics of the earth's magnetosphere-ionosphere system. The system's driving forces (vector electric fields and neutral winds), driven quantities (currents, plasmas, suprathermal particles, waves, and neutral gases), and grid (the vector magnetic field) will be measured. It has been proposed that the mission consist of a pair of spacecraft, one attitude controlled in a low-altitude polar orbit and the other of undefined stabilization requirements in a polar eccentric orbit with apogee variable between 3 and 6 earth radii. Knowledge of spacecraft attitude must be good to within 0.1 deg. Onboard propulsion is used to allow the changing parameters. The two spacecraft are coplanar, with many simultaneous field-line crossings that are particularly useful in the study of currents, particle accelerations, etc. The spacecraft has selectable bit rates and data formats to optimize the utility of the returned data. It is envisioned that except for the details of the detector complement, the spacecraft resembles the Atmospheric Explorer (AE) spacecraft. The team approach of the AE series will probably be utilized for data handling, with remote terminals at experimenter's institutions and with data from all experiments being accessible to each experimenter.
Launch Date: 1979-01-01
Launch Vehicle:
Launch Site: ,
Questions and comments about this spacecraft can be directed to: Coordinated Request and User Support Office
Name | Role | Original Affiliation | |
---|---|---|---|
Mr. Frank W. Gaetano | Program Manager | NASA Headquarters | |
Mr. David W. Grimes | Project Manager | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | |
Dr. David P. Cauffman | Program Scientist | NASA Headquarters | david.cauffman@lmco.com |