IMAGE mission
The IMAGE mission (Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration)
is a NASA spacecraft launched in March 2000 into a highly elliptic polar
orbit around the Earth. Its highest point (apogeum) is at ~7 Re (Earth
radii: 6380 km) above the surface of the Earth and its lowest point
(perigeum) at 1000 km. During its first years IMAGE had its apogeum over
the northern hemisphere, but due to precession it will have its apogeum
over the southern hemisphere in 2006. IMAGE is a spin-stabilized
satellite, with a complete rotation every 120 sesond.
The IMAGE spacecraft is equipped with a suite of cameras to image the
aurora (Far-ultra-violet wavelenghts - FUV), the plasmasphere
(Extreme-ultrs-violet - EUV), the energetic and cold neutral atoms
surrounding the Earth (LENA, MENA, HENA, GEO), and plasma boundaries using
radiosonde (RPI).
The main goal for the IMAGE mission is to investigates the response of
the Earth's magnetosphere and iononsophere to changes in the charged
particle flux from the Sun (solar wind) and the Sun's magnetic field
(interplanetary magnetic interacting with the Earths own magnetic fieldt.
The main database for the SPG IMAGE project at UoB is the IMAGE
Far-Ultra-Violet (FUV) camera system, although data from other IMAGE
instruments, other spacecrafts and ground based measurements are also
used.
To learn more about the IMAGE mission see:
NASA/Goddard IMAGE page
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