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OVERVIEW OF ISTP-RELEVANT SPACECRAFT


The file below was initially prepared for inclusion in the Proceedings of the 31st COSPAR Assembly (Birmingham, 1996). It provides an overview of many spacecraft and their data relevant to the International Solar Terrestrial Physics Program. While it had been intended to keep this page current, this has not happened due to the press of other activities. Rather than taking this page offline due to its non-currency, however, we chose to keep it available as a possibly useful snapshot of the international array of ISTP-relevant spacecraft as of 1996.

An html-based index is provided below for jumping directly to spacecraft-specific parts of this paper. The reader is advised to read the introductory material on his first access to this paper.

Index of Paper

ACE             main body    appendix
AKEBONO         main body    appendix
ASTRID          main body    appendix
DMSP            main body    appendix
EQUATOR-S       main body    appendix
ETS-VI          main body    appendix
FAST                         appendix
FREJA           main body    appendix
GEOTAIL                      appendix
GMS-4           main body    appendix
GOES            main body    appendix
GOMS                         appendix
IMP-8           main body    appendix
INTERBALL-TAIL               appendix
INTERBALL-AURORA             appendix
LANL S/C        main body    appendix
MSX             main body    appendix
NOAA/TIROS      main body    appendix
OERSTED         main body    appendix
POLAR                        appendix
PRACTICE-4      main body    appendix
ROCSAT          main body    appendix
SAMPEX          main body    appendix
SOHO                         appendix
UARS            main body    appendix
WIND                         appendix

ADDITIONAL SPACECRAFT DATA SOURCES CONTRIBUTING TO THE ISTP PROGRAM

J. H. King

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, National Space Science Data Center, Code 633, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ABSTRACT

Descriptions of the most salient characteristics of several spacecraft and associated data relevant to the science objectives of the International Solar Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) program are given. An appendix uniformly describes all relevant spacecraft and lists URL's when available. The body of the paper gives further descriptive material concerning the subset of these spacecraft that have not been considered as "core" ISTP spacecraft. The core spacecraft are further described in the accompanying papers in this proceedings.

INTRODUCTION

A great many spacecraft and other investigations are contributing and will contribute to the success of the International Solar Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) program. This paper is part of a series presented at the Inter-Agency Solar Terrestrial Physics (IASTP) Program Symposium of the 31st COSPAR Scientific Assembly (Birmingham, 1996) addressing those investigations and the results thereof. (ISTP and IASTP are substantively identical; we use "ISTP" herein.) This paper specifically identifies all the relevant spacecraft making in situ fields and particles measurements from 1992 onwards. These spacecraft range from those centrally involved in ISTP to those not officially part of ISTP but having potential to contribute to ISTP research objectives. The appendix lists these spacecraft and gives very limited information about each. The rest of this paper is intended to offer more detailed descriptions of the investigations on and data from those spacecraft about which spacecraft-specific papers are NOT to be part of this series of papers.

The spacecraft are grouped approximately by altitude: those mainly in the solar wind, some of which provide some magnetotail data; eccentric near-equatorial; geosynchronous; high-altitude polar; and low altitude. In each group the spacecraft are addressed in the sequence of their launch dates. Note that we have not tried to include solar remote sensing investigations.

SOLAR WIND SPACECRAFT

IMP 8

The NASA Interplanetary Monitoring Platform 8 (IMP 8) spacecraft has been acquiring magnetic field, plasma, and energetic particle data from its 35 Re, 12+ day orbit since its 1973 launch. It is in the solar wind typically 7 days of each 12+ day orbit and in the magnetosheath and magnetotail otherwise. Because of its 45 deg inclination, it has seasons of passing through the mid-tail (Y GSM, Z GSM near zero) and other seasons of passing only through the magnetotail lobes. In 1996 its mid-tail seasons are centered on December-January and June-July, and its northern tail lobe season is centered on September-October.
The IMP 8 spacecraft has no on-board data storage. It transmits data continually and depends on availability of a VHF ground station's being visible to it for telemetry capture. Over the years net IMP coverage has ranged from 90% early in the IMP 8 life to about 50% in the early 1980's, recovering to 60%-70% in the mid-1980's through mid-1990's. At present, because of the addition of a VHF antenna at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, monthly coverage exceeds 90%. A slippage back to 70% is probable in the coming few years because of budget austerity.
Table 1 lists the IMP 8 investigations that are still being supported for data processing, analysis, and archiving.

Table 1.  Active IMP 8 Investigations

Magnetometer:           R.P. Lepping, GSFC
Solar Wind Plasma:      J.T. Gosling, LANL
                        A.J. Lazarus, MIT
Energetic Particles:    R.B. Decker/S.M. Krimigis, JHU/APL
                        F.M. Ipavich, U. Maryland
                        C. Lopate/J.A. Simpson, U. Chicago
                        R.E. McGuire, GSFC
                        D.J. Williams, JHU/APL
Data from the magnetometer (all orbital phases) and MIT plasma investigation (a split-collector Faraday Cup; solar wind phase only) are routinely flowing into the ISTP Central Data Handling Facility (CDHF) as 1-min magnetic field vectors (GSE and GSM) and plasma flow parameters (velocity vector, density, thermal speed).

More generally, data from all IMP investigations are becoming publicly available over the WWW and through more traditional pathways. Check http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/imp-8.html for further information.

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Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE)

The ACE spacecraft is slated for an August 1997 launch and a subsequent orbit about the sunward libration point. ACE will carry a full suite of magnetic field, plasma, and energetic particle detectors. Its primary scientific objective is to study the elemental, isotopic, and charge state composition over an energy range corresponding to solar wind plasma to galactic cosmic rays and over a Z range up to zinc (Z=30).
Key ACE roles are played by E. C. Stone (CalTech) as Principal Investigator and J. F. Ormes (GSFC) as Project Scientist. In addition, there are 20 Co-Investigators from 12 distinct institutions who are associated with nine separate investigations listed below. Science and data management coordination is provided by CalTech.

ACE investigations and key people are as follows:

Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS; A. Cummings and T. Garrard, Caltech)
Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS; A. Cummings and T. Garrard)
Ultra Low Energy Isotope Spectrometer (ULEIS; G. Mason, U. Md. and R. Gold, JHU/APL)
Solar Energetic Particle Ionic Charge Analyzer (SEPICA; E. Moebius and L. Kistler, UNH)
Solar Wind Ion Mass Spectrometer (SWIMS; G. Gloeckler, U. Md.)
Solar Wind Ionic Charge Spectrometer (SWICS; G. Gloeckler, U. Md.)
Electron, Proton, and Alpha Monitor (EPAM; R. Gold, JHU/APL)
Solar Wind Electron, Proton, and Alpha Monitor (SWEPAM; D. McComas and W. Feldman, LANL)
Magnetometer (MAG; N. Ness and C. Smith, Bartol)

It is expected that shortly after launch ACE key parameters (0.5-min interplanetary magnetic field [IMF] data, plus 4-min solar wind plasma parameters and selected particle fluxes) will flow from the project data facility at CalTech to the ISTP/CDFH. Further, there will be a real-time flow of solar wind field and plasma parameters to NOAA's Space Environment Center for monitoring and prediction purposes.
Further details on the ACE mission are available from http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/ace/ace_mission.html.

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ECCENTRIC NEAR-EQUATORIAL SPACECRAFT

Practice-4

The Practice-4 spacecraft, also known as ShiJian-4 (SJ-4), was a spacecraft of the Peoples' Republic of China, launched February 8, 1994, into a low-inclination, highly eccentric orbit with an apogee of 6.6 Re primarily to study the magnetospheric radiation environment. Instrumentation included plasma, energetic particle, and electric field detectors. Design lifetime was six months. Useful data were produced, and a number of papers have been published. Contact is Professor Du Heng at duhengl@sun20.cssar.ac.cn.

Engineering Test Satellite (ETS) - VI

The ETS-VI spacecraft was launched by the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) into a 2.3 Re x 7.1 Re (geocentric) x 13.4 deg inclination orbit on August 28, 1994. Launch problems prevented attainment of the intended geostationary orbit, but the spacecraft has now provided useful magnetic field and trapped particle data over a wide range of L in the magnetosphere. Apogee was near the midnight meridian in late January 1995. The spacecraft measures ambient magnetic fields at 3-sec resolution (and 0.125 nT precision at >5 Re), and 0.6-5 MeV electron and 10-45 MeV proton fluxes. Data were acquired in real-time only, when the spacecraft was visible to ground stations in Japan or Kiruna, Sweden. No scientifically useful data were acquired after July 5, 1996. Contact person is T. Nagai at nagai@geo.titech.ac.jp. The particle data are further highlighted at http://akebono.tksc.nasda.go.jp.

Equator-S

The Equator-S spacecraft is slated for a late 1997 launch into high-eccentricity, near-equatorial orbit with apogee of about 11 Re. Key science personnel are G. Haerendel (Principal Investigator, MPI,Garching), R.B. Torbert (Deputy PI,UNH), and G. Paschmann (Project Scientist,MPI,Garching). Principal scientific investigations are as follows:

Magnetometer (H. Luehr,Geoforschungszentrum, GFZ, Potsdam)
Electron Drift Instrument (G. Paschmann, MPI,Garching)
3D Plasma Analyzer (G. Parks, Univ. Washington)
Ion Composition Instrument (L. Kistler, UNH)
Energetic Particle Instrument (T. Sanderson,ESA/ESTEC)
Potential Control Device (K. Torkar, Space Research Institute, Graz)
Further information is available from http://www.op.dlr.de/wt-rm/futmiss.htm#equator-s.

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GEOSYNCHRONOUS SPACECRAFT

NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Series

The GOES series began with the GOES 1 launch in 1975 and now extends through the 1995-launched GOES 9. Contributing to ISTP science have been GOES 6 through GOES 9, with launches 4/28/83, 2/26/87, 4/13/94, and 5/23/95. GOES 6 was turned off 11/12/94. GOES 7-9 continue to provide data, although the more typical situation is that two GOES spacecraft are simultaneously operational. Currently, GOES 8 is at 75 deg W longitude, and GOES 9 is at 135 deg W longitude. GOES 6 and 7 spent significant time at those longitudes, respectively, although each GOES has operated at a variety of longitudes in the 75-135 W longitude range.

The GOES spacecraft were spin stabilized through GOES 7 and are three-axis stabilized thereafter. Each GOES spacecraft includes a Space Environment Monitor (SEM) package from NOAA's Space Environment Center (as did NOAA's 1974-1975 GOES-predecessor SMS 1 and 2 spacecraft). The SEM package carries a magnetometer, energetic particle sensors (EPS), and a solar X-ray monitor.

One-minute data from the magnetometer and 5-min EPS data flow into the ISTP CDHF. These two instruments are the responsibilities of Drs. Howard Singer and Terrance Onsager, respectively. The GOES 8 and 9 magnetometers have an intrinsic time resolution of 0.5 sec; the highest resolution of earlier magnetometers was 3-sec. For GOES 6 and 7, three-sec and 5-min data are archived at NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC; http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov). For GOES 8 and 9, one-min data are archived at NGDC, and a higher resolution data set will be archived there.

The EPS package on GOES 8 and 9 measures protons in 10 energy windows in the 0.8-900 MeV range, alpha particles in 7 energy windows in the 4-3400 MeV range, and electrons >0.6, 2.0, and 4.0 MeV. In addition, there are integral measurements above 700 and 3400 MeV for protons and alpha particles, respectively. From GOES-6 and -7 one proton (0.6-4.2 MeV) and one electron (>2 MeV) flux channel were provided to the ISTP CDHF at 5-min resolution. From GOES-8 and -9 one proton channel (0.7-4.0 MeV) and all three electron channels will be provided. The GOES particle data are also archived at NGDC.

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Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Series

Over the years LANL has flown a series of spacecraft at geostationary altitude. Among other instruments these spacecraft have carried plasma and energetic particle detectors. Key persons associated with these are D. McComas and R. Belian, respectively. Typical longitudes covered are given in the appendix. These instruments and their data are described at http://leadbelly.lanl.gov.

A subset of the data collected is provided to the ISTP CDHF as Key Parameters. From the energetic particle instruments (SOPA) the following are provided: 50-225 keV and 0.3-1.5 MeV electrons; 50-400 keV and 1.2-5 MeV protons; 0.9-1.3 MeV helium; and 5-15 MeV heavy (C,N,O) ions, all at 1-min resolution. From the plasma instruments (MPA) flow parameters are provided for three particle populations: 1-130 eV ions, 0.13-43 keV ions, and 30 eV-45 keV electrons. Plasma parameters included densities, flow velocities, parallel and perpendicular temperatures, and directions of symmetry axes.

Geostationary Meteorological Satellite (GMS) 4

GMS 4 is a Japanese spacecraft whose primary objective is to make remote observations of the Earth from a position over the longitude of Japan. It was launched September 5, 1989, as a continuation of the GMS series started in 1977. Each GMS spacecraft (through GMS 4) has carried energetic particle detectors but no magnetometer. GMS 4 operated at 140 deg east longitude (over Japan) until the August 1994 launch of GMS 5 after which it was moved to about 120 deg east. GMS 5 carried no fields or particles experiments. GMS 4 continues to provide useful data. T. Nagai is the contact for these data, at nagai@geo.titech.ac.jp. Plots of recent GMS 4 fluxes may be viewed at http://hiraiso.crl.go.jp.

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LOWER ALTITUDE SPACECRAFT

NOAA/Polar Series

This series of NOAA operational low-altitude, near-polar spacecraft dates back to the 1960's NOAA/TIROS spacecraft. Since 1970 these spacecraft have carried instruments to measure precipitating particles over a wide energy range: 300 eV to 2.5 MeV for electrons and 300 eV to 215 MeV for protons. Key person is D. Evans at NOAA's Space Environment Center, Boulder. These data have been archived at the NOAA/National Geophysical Data Center over the years and are about to be made accessible on the SEC's WWW page at http://www.sec.noaa.gov/sel_home.html.

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)

The DMSP program is a USAF program, operational since 1975, for measuring the atmospheric, oceanic, and solar-terrestrial environments. Typically, the program has two sun-synchronous spacecraft (850 km, near-polar) operational concurrently. DMSP instrumentation includes a magnetometer, electrostatic analyzers for measuring 30 eV - 30 keV precipitating electrons and protons (19 energy channels each), a set of thermal plasma detectors including an ion drift meter, and a white light imager.
Since 1992 NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) has been producing geophysical parameter science data from raw data tapes provided by USAF. Full time-resolution and spectral-resolution particle flux data for two spacecraft for one month are written by NGDC to one 8-mm tape. Check http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/dmsp/dmsp.html for further details on NGDC-accessible DMSP data. DMSP magnetometer and thermal plasma data are accessible via F. Rich at rich@plh.af.mil. Plasma data only are also available from M. Hairston at hairston@utdallas.edu. It is expected that DMSP flux data will become available at the ISTP CDHF for the IACG Campaign 1 time intervals.

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Akebono (EXOS-D)

The Japanese Akebono spacecraft was launched February 22, 1989, into a 10,500 km x 270 km x 75 deg orbit primarily to investigate phenomena associated with the acceleration of auroral particles. The spacecraft carries the following instruments: magnetometer, electric field detector, low energy particle detector, suprathermal ion spectrometer, thermal electron detector, VLF plasma wave detector, top side sounder and HF wave detector, and visible and UV auroral imager. Auroral image capability was lost in early 1995, otherwise the instuments continue to operate well.A data base of 8-sec resolution data from all instruments is now under construction in Japan. Further information is available from Dr. T. Obara at obara@gtl.isas.ac.jp.

Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS)

This NASA spacecraft was launched in September 1991 into a 57 deg inclination orbit at 585 km altitude. Its primary scientific objectives related to the chemistry and dynamics of the Earth's upper atmosphere. It carried a Particle Environment Monitor (PEM) package with energetic particle, magnetometer, and atmospheric X-ray detectors provided by the Southwest Research Institute, Lockheed, and the Applied Physics Laboratory. David Winningham/SWRI is Principal Investigator. Protons and electrons were measured in the broad energy ranges 1 eV to 150 MeV and 1 eV to 5 MeV, respectively. These data and data from all other UARS instruments are being archived at the Earth Observing System Data Information System (EOSDIS) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) at Goddard Space Flight Center. However, the PEM data are also conveniently accessible from SWRI at http://pemrac.space.swri.edu/spds/pem.html.

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Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle EXplorer (SAMPEX)

The SAMPEX spacecraft was launched July 3, 1992, into a 520 km x 670 km x 82 deg inclination orbit to measure the elemental, isotopic, and charge state composition of the multiple energetic particle populations implied by the spacecraft name. SAMPEX was the first of a new series of NASA spacecraft, the SMEX's (SMall EXplorer), having a single Principal Investigator and multiple distributed Co-Investigators associated with various investigations.
For SAMPEX, the Principal Investigator is Glenn Mason of the University of Maryland. The Project Scientist at Goddard was Daniel Baker. Tables 2, 3, and 4 indicate the instruments and their affiliations and key people, the energy ranges for these instruments, and the Z ranges over which elemental and isotopic resolution is obtained.

Table 2.  SAMPEX Instruments and Key Investigators

HILT    Heavy Ion Large Telescope       MPI/Garching and Aerospace Corp.
        Klecker, Blake, etc.
LICA    Low Energy Ion Composition Telescope    Univ. of Maryland
        Mason, Mazur, etc.
MAST    Mass Spectrometer Telescope     Caltech and GSFC
        Mewaldt, Von Rosenvinge, etc.
PET     Proton Electron Telescope       Caltech and GSFC
        Mewaldt, Baker (now at U. Colorado), etc.

Table 3.  SAMPEX Instrument Energy Ranges (MeV/n)

        LICA    HILT    MAST    PET

Electrons >.03  >.15,>1  -       >.4
H       0.75-8   -      5-11    18-250
He      0.4-8   3.9-90  7-15    18-350
C       .35-12  7.2-160 12-140    -
Si      .26-18  9.6-177 19-345    -
Fe      .16-25  11-90   24-270    -

Table 4.  SAMPEX Instrument Z Ranges

                LICA    HILT    MAST    PET

  For Elements  1-28    2-28    2-28    1-28
  For Isotopes  2-16    2       2-28    1-2
The SAMPEX data management team at the University of Maryland, headed by J. Mazur, provides low processing level ("level 1") data to each Co-Investigator team on optical disks, and provides copies of these disks also to NSSDC for safe storage. The University of Maryland team is also providing more immediately usable data products ("level 2") in the form of 30-sec and polar-cap-averaged fluxes of selected channels and count rates for most channels. Table 5 summarizes the channels for which fluxes are being generated. These fluxes are being converted from ASCII to Common Data Format (CDF) by NSSDC and the Space Physics Data Facility for insertion in the ISTP/CDHF data bases and for access by the NSSDC/CDAWeb system. (Data in CDF are readily displayed graphically and are also readily converted to ASCII for digital downloads.) Support for use of the level 1 data will reside with the University of Maryland for some years to come.

Table 5.  SAMPEX Fluxes Being Created at 30-Sec Resolution

LICA:   protons > 0.8 MeV + electrons > 0.6 MeV
        helium  0.5-6.6 MeV/n
        Z>5     0.49-8.3 MeV/n

HILT    helium  4-9 and 9-38 MeV/n
        Z>5     8.2-42 and 41-220 MeV/n

MAST    protons 5-11 MeV
        helium  8-15 MeV/n
        Z>5     6 channels, 19.3-22.8 MeV/n through 113-156 MeV/n

PET     electrons  1.5-6 and 2.5-14 MeV
        protons 19-27 MeV
Further details on the SAMPEX mission and its instruments are available from http://lepsam.gsfc.nasa.gov/www/sampex.html and from the May/June 1993 issue of IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

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Freja

The Freja spacecraft is a Swedish - German mission with the involvement of scientists of several nations. Freja was intended for studies of auroral phenomena. It was launched October 6, 1992 into a 594 km x 1764 km x 63 deg orbit. Its detector complement, Principal Investigators, and, where relevant and known, last dates of data are given below:

F1  Electric fields (still operational)  G.Marklund (Royal Inst. of Tech., Stockholm)
F2  Magnetic fields (to June 1995)       L.Zanetti (JHU/APL)
F3H Hot Plasma (still operational)       E.Eliasson (Swedish Inst. of Sp. Phys., Kiruna) 
F3C Cold Plasma (to May 1994)            D.Knudsen (Univ. Calgary)
F4  Waves (to June 1995)                 B.Holback (Swedish Inst. of Sp. Phys.,Uppsala)
F5  Auroral imager (to January 1993)     J.Murphree (Univ. Calgary)        
F6  Electron Beam (to September 1995)    G.Paschmann (MPI, Garching)
F7  Electron Spectrometer (to Sept.1994) M.Boehm (NASA/JPL)        
Spacecraft operations were significantly descoped on July 1, 1995, yielding much less data. Freja data are available from investigators. Further information about the mission is available from http://www.ssc.se/ssc/ssd/ssat/freja.html. An alternative WWW page maintained by the Freja magnetometer team is at http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/Freja.
A special section of 17 Freja papers is in March,1998, JGR.

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Astrid

The Swedish Astrid spacecraft was launched January 24, 1995, into a circular orbit at 1000 km altitude and 83 deg inclination. The spacecraft carried a neutral particle imager to make energetic neutral atom (ENA) remote sensing measurements of the magnetosphere's energetic charged particle populations. It also carried a UV imager providing Lyman alpha data and an instrument providing in situ electron distribution functions. Scientifically useful data were acquired until March 1, 1995. A second Astrid spacecraft is expected to be launched in 1997 to study electric and magnetic phenomena in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. Further details are available from http://mars.irf.se:80/Astrid-1/astrid-1.html.

Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX)

MSX is a U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Organization spacecraft launched April 24, 1996, into a 99.6-deg inclination, 908-km altitude near circular orbit. The spacecraft carries multi-spectral imagers and imaging spectrographs covering the far-UV through near-IR range of the spectrum. Auroral imagery produced will contribute to the International Auroral Study ( http://bolero.gsfc.nasa.gov/ias/ias.html), and selected auroral imagery will be available through the ISTP CDHF. MSX also carried a magnetometer and a neutral mass spectrometer and ion-mass spectrometer. Most experiments are expected to operate for five years. Key space science institution is the Space Department of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University.

Oersted

The Oersted spacecraft is a Danish mission whose primary objective is to make high-accuracy measurements of the main geomagnetic field. From this perspective it is a successor of the NASA MAGSAT spacecraft of 1979-1980. In addition, the mission will study magnetospheric phenomena. The mission is intended for a June 1997 launch and for a 14-month data-gathering life. It will be in a near-polar 500 km x 850 km orbit. In addition to high precision magnetometers, the spacecraft will carry detectors to measure 30-1000 keV electrons, 0.2-30 MeV protons, and 1-100 MeV alpha particle fluxes. Further information is available at http://oerstedwww.dmi.min.dk:8080/projects/oersted.

ROCSAT-1

This spacecraft is the first scientific satellite of Taiwan. It is scheduled for a 1998 launch into a 600 km circular orbit with an inclination of 35 deg. Its only space physics instrumentation is the Ionospheric Plasma and Electrodynamics Instrument (IPEI), which includes an ion-trap, a pair of ion drift meters, and a retarding potential analyzer. Ion densities, temperatures, and drift velocities will be determined at sufficiently high resolution to enable the study of such phenomena as equatorial bubbles and mid-latitude bubble-like irregularities. Contact person is Shin-Yi Su, National Central University of Taiwan, sysu@ss930.ss.ncu.edu.tw.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank all my colleagues who contributed to the information-gathering phase of this paper.

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APPENDIX

Brief characterization of ISTP-Relevant Spacecraft

SOLAR WIND SPACECRAFT 


Name:   IMP 8
Agency: NASA/USA
Launch: October 26, 1973
Orbit (May 1996):
        Apogee: 39.3 Re
        Perigee: 28.3 Re
        Inclination: 45.4 deg
        Period: 12.1 days
Instrumentation:  magnetic fields, plasma, energetic particles
Contribution to ISTP CDHF:  1-m magnetic field & solar wind plasma parameters
Good URL:     http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/imp-8.html

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Name: WIND Agency: NASA/USA Launch: November 1, 1994 Orbit: Day-side apogees between 70-170 Re and magnetotail perigees between 5 and 15 Re; lunar-swingby assists; libration point orbits expected to start February 1997 Instrumentation: magnetic fields, plasma, energetic particles, waves, and gamma rays Contribution to ISTP CDHF: extensive key parameters Good URL: http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov Name: SOHO (SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory) Agency: ESA (with NASA participation) Launch: December 2, 1995 Orbit: Sunward Libration Point (L1) Instrumentation: plasma, energetic particles; solar optical, UV, EUV Contribution to ISTP CDHF: particle fluxes (1-5 min) & 5-m solar wind speed Good URL: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov

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Name: ACE (Advanced Composition Explorer) Agency: NASA/USA (science and data coordinated at Caltech) Launch: August 1997 Orbit: Sunward Libration Point (L1) Instrumentation: magnetic fields, plasma, energetic particles Contribution to ISTP CDHF: expected; probably .5-m IMF & 4-m plasma parameters and particle fluxes Good URL: http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/ace/ace_mission.html

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ECCENTRIC NEAR-EQUATORIAL SPACECRAFT Name: Geotail Agency: ISAS/Japan Launch: July 24, 1992 Orbit: Deep magnetotail apogees (200 Re) through October 1994; 10 Re x 50 Re for ~3 months; 10 Re x 30 Re thereafter, with local midnight apogee in January Instrumentation: magnetic and elect fields, waves, plasma, energetic particles Contribution to ISTP CDHF: extensive key parameters Good URL: http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov Name: Practice-4 Agency: Center for Space Science and Applied Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peoples' Republic of China Launch: February 8, 1994 Orbit: 36125 km x 210 km x 28.6 deg Instrumentation: energetic particles, plasma, electric fields Contribution to ISTP CDHF: none Contact: Prof. Du Heng at duheng@sun20.cssar.ac.cn

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Name: ETS-VI (Engineering Test Satellite) Agency: NASDA/Japan Launch: August 28, 1994 (End of useful life: July 4, 1996) Orbit: 2.3 Re x 7.1 Re (geocentric) x 13.4 deg inclination Instrumentation: Magnetometer and energetic protons and electrons Contribution to ISTP CDHF: none Contact: nagai@geo.titech.ac.jp Good URL: http://akebono.tksc.nasda.go.jp Name: Interball-Magnetotail Agency: IKI/Russia Launch: August 2, 1995 Orbit: 30 Re apogee at local midnight in November Instrumentation: magnetic and electric fields, waves, plasma, energetic particles, solar X rays; accompanied by Czech Magion 4 spacecraft, similarly instrumented Contribution to ISTP/CDHF: 2-m ion composition data (more later; initial focus on IACG campaign periods) Good URL: http://www.iki.rssi.ru/interball.html

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Name: Equator-S Agency: Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and others Launch: Late 1997 Orbit: Highly eccentric, near equatorial, 11 Re apogee Instrumentation: electric and magnetic fields, plasma, energetic particles Contribution to ISTP CDHF: To be determined Good URL: http://www.op.dlr.de/wt-rm/futmiss.htm#equator-s

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GEOSYNCHRONOUS SPACECRAFT Name: GOES Series Agency: NOAA/Dept. of Commerce/USA Launch Dates & Typical Geographic Longitudes: GOES 6: April 28, 1983; 75 deg W. (turned off 11/12/94) GOES 7: February 26, 1987; 135 deg W. GOES 8: April 13, 1994; 75 deg W. GOES 9: May 23, 1995; 135 deg W. Instrumentation: magnetic fields, energetic particles, solar X-rays Contribution to ISTP CDHF: 1-m magnetic vectors, 5-m particle rates Good URLs: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/GOES/goes.html http://www.sec.noaa.gov Name: LANL Series Agency: LANL/Dept. of Energy/USA Launch Date & Typical Geographic Longitudes: 1989-046A: June 14, 1989; 165 deg W 1990-095A: November 13, 1990; 35 deg W 1991-080B: November 21, 1991; 65 deg E 1994-084A: December 22, 1994; 105 deg E Instrumentation: plasma, energetic particles Contribution to ISTP CDHF: 1-min particle fluxes (including high Z) and 3-min plasma parameters Good URL: http://leadbelly.lanl.gov/lanl_ep_data/

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Name: GMS-4 Agency: Japan Launch: September 5, 1989 Orbit: Geostationary at 140 deg E until 8/94, 120 deg E thereafter Instrumentation: energetic particles Contribution to ISTP CDHF: none Contact: nagai@geo.titech.ac.jp Good URL: http://hiraiso.crl.go.jp Name: GOMS Agency: Russian Committee for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring/Department of Space Observing and Heliogeophysical Monitoring Launch: September 21, 1994 Orbit: Geostationary at 76 deg E Instrumentation: energetic particles,geomagnetic field, solar x-ray,ultraviolet Contribution to ISTP CDHF: none Contact: S. Frolov at geophys@sovam.com (mark "for S. Frolov")

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HIGH ALTITUDE POLAR SPACECRAFT Name: POLAR Agency: NASA/USA Launch: February 24, 1996 Orbit: 8.9 Re x 1.8 Re (geocentric) x 86 deg inclination x 17.5 hours period Instrumentation: auroral imagery, magnetic and electric fields, waves, energetic particles, ionospheric X-rays Contribution to ISTP CDHF: extensive key parameter set, including imagery Good URL: http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov Name: Interball-Aurora Agency: IKI/Russia Launch: August 29, 1996 Orbit (expected): 781 km x 19,140 km x 62.8 deg inclination Instrumentation: auroral imagery, magnetic and electric fields, waves, energetic particles; accompanied by Czech MAGION 5 subsatellite almost as fully instrumented Contribution to ISTP CDHF: many parameters, possibly with emphasis on designated IACG campaigns initially Good URL: http://www.iki.rssi.ru/interball.html

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Name: FAST Agency: NASA/USA (Science and data coordinated at U. California, Berkeley) Launch: August 21, 1996 Orbit: 350 km x 4200 km x 83 deg inclination Instrumentation (for high time/space resolution auroral studies): electric and magnetic fields, waves, plasma, energetic particles Contribution to ISTP CDHF: 5-sec resolution survey data Good URLs: http://sunland.gsfc.nasa.gov/smex/fast/fast_top.html http://plasma2.ssl.berkeley.edu/fast/

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LOW ALTITUDE SPACECRAFT Name: NOAA/Tiros Agency: NOAA/Dept. of Commerce/USA Launch: Successive pairs of spacecraft operational since 1970 Orbit: Near polar, sun synchronous; current equatorial crossings at 0730 and 1340 local time Instrumentation: particle detectors for 300 eV - 2.5 MeV electrons and 300 eV - 215 MeV protons Contribution to ISTP CDHF: none Good URL: http://www.sec.noaa.gov/sel_home.html Name: DMSP series Agency: USAF/USA (Data processing at NOAA/NGDC) Launch: Successive pairs of spacecraft operational since 1975 Orbit: Near polar, 830 km (sun synchronous; current equatorial crossings at 0536 and 1052 local time) Instrumentation: 30 eV - 30 KeV electrons and protons; magnetometer; thermal plasma, white light imager Contribution to ISTP CDHF: none (yet) Good URLs: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/dmsp/dmsp.html http://plcs.plh.af.mil/gps/

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Name: Akebono (EXOS-D) Agency: ISAS/Japan Launch: February 22, 1989 Orbit: 10,500 km x 270 km x 75 deg inclination Instrumentation: electric and magnetic fields and waves, plasma, energetic particles, auroral imager Contribution to ISTP CDHF: none Name: UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite) Agency: NASA/USA Launch: September 12, 1991 Orbit: 585 km x 57 deg inclination Instrumentation: multiple, including Particle Environment Monitor (PEM) which itself includes precipitating particle detectors and a magnetometer. Contribution to ISTP CDHF: none Good URL: http://pemrac.space.swri.edu/spds/pem.html

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Name: SAMPEX (Solar Anomalous Magnetospheric Particle EXplorer) Agency: NASA/USA (Science and data coordinated at U. Maryland) Launch: July 3, 1992 Orbit: 520 km x 670 km x 82 deg inclination Instrumentation: energetic particles Contribution to ISTP CDHF: 30-s and polar-cap-averaged fluxes Good URL: http://surya.umd.edu/www/sampex.html Name: Freja Agency: Swedish National Space Board Launch: October 6, 1992 (most instruments inoperative by 1996) Orbit: 594 km x 1764 km x 63 deg Instrumentation: fields, particles, plasma, waves, for auroral studies Contribution to ISTP CDHF: none Good URL: http://www.ssc.se/ssc/ssd/ssat/freja.html

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Name: Astrid Agency: Swedish Institute of Space Science Launch: January 24, 1995 (end of life March 1, 1995) Orbit: 1000 km (circular) x 83 deg inclination Instrumentation: Neutral Particle Imager, Lyman alpha, electron spectrometer Contribution to ISTP CDHF: none Good URL: http://mars.irf.se:80/Astrid-1/astrid-1.html Name: MSX Agency: US-BMDO Launch: April 24, 1996 Orbit: 908 km circular x 99.6 deg inclination Instrumentation: Multispectral imagery for aurora and other sources Contribution to ISTP CDHF: Selected auroral imagery Good URL: http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/MSX/MSX_Overview.html

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Name: Oersted Agency: Danish Meteorological Institute and others Launch: June 1997 Orbit: 500 km x 850 km x near-polar Instrumentation: magnetometers, energetic particles Contribution to ISTP CDHF: none Good URL: http://oerstedwww.dmi.min.dk:8080/projects/oersted Name: ROCSAT Agency: National Space Program Office, Taiwan Launch: 1998 Orbit: 600 km (circular) x 35 deg inclination Instrumentation: ion trap, ion drift meters, retarding potential analyzer Contribution to ISTP CDHF: none


NASA Official: J. H. King, king@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov

Version 1.0, 1 August 1996
Last Updated: 3 Jan. 2000, NEP