Shall we carry sounders onboard future magnetospheric missions? Lessons learned from Cluster

Author

Masson, A. ; Taylor, M.G.G.T. ; Laakso, H. ; Escoubet, P.

Author_Institution

Eur. Space Agency, ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands

fYear

2011

fDate

13-20 Aug. 2011

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

1

Abstract

Since 2000, the four ESA/NASA Cluster satellites orbit the Earth from 20 Re down to 1 Re. Each spacecraft is equipped with the same set of 11 plasma instruments, among which a relaxation sounder named WHISPER. Scientific highlights, where WHISPER data played a key role, will be first presented with an emphasis on plasmaspheric wave research [1]. Then, we will illustrate how WHISPER is key to estimate the electron density in various regions (sometimes unforeseen) of the magnetosphere, on its own and in conjunction with other plasma instruments [2]. These lessons learned from Cluster will help to answer the following question: shall we carry sounders onboard future magnetospheric missions?

Keywords

artificial satellites; atmospheric electron precipitation; atmospheric measuring apparatus; atmospheric techniques; electron density; ESA-NASA Cluster satellite; WHISPER data; electron density; magnetospheric mission; plasma instrument; plasmaspheric wave research; relaxation sounder; sounders; spacecraft; Estimation; Instruments; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetosphere; NASA; Plasmas; Space vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

General Assembly and Scientific Symposium, 2011 XXXth URSI

Conference_Location

Istanbul

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-5117-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/URSIGASS.2011.6051112

Filename

6051112