Missions & Data Sets

Solar Wind

ACE

Full name: Advanced Composition Explorer
Region: Solar wind at Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 1 (L1)
Type: NASA satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Measure the composition of the solar wind and other particle populations from the solar system and beyond while providing crucial, real-time monitoring of the solar wind that drives space weather events.
Mission site or data center: http://www.srl.caltech.edu/ACE/ace_mission.html 

Wind

Full name: Wind
Region: Solar wind at Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 1 (L1)
Type: NASA satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Investigate the fields and plasma processes within the solar wind just upstream of the Earth, and provide key measurements of the solar wind that will impact the Earth system.
Mission site or data center: https://wind.nasa.gov/index.php

Outer Magnetosphere

MMS

Full name: Magnetospheric MultiScale
Region: Middle to outer magnetosphere, magnetosheath, and near-Earth solar wind
Type: NASA satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Uncover the physics of magnetic reconnection in the Earth's magnetosphere, using four identical satellites flying very closely together orbiting around the Earth.
Mission site or data center: https://lasp.colorado.edu/mms/sdc/public/

THEMIS

Full name: Time History of Events and Macroscopic Interactions of Substorms
Region: Middle to outer magnetosphere, magnetosheath
Type: NASA satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Answer fundamental questions about the nature and effects of substorms in the Earth's magnetotail, using multiple identical spacecraft aligned at different radial distances.
Mission site or data center: http://themis.ssl.berkeley.edu/  

ARTEMIS

Full name: Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun
Region: Lunar (outer magnetosphere, near-Earth solar wind)
Type: NASA satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Pursue key questions of the Moon's interaction with the solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere, using two of the THEMIS spacecraft rerouted into lunar orbit.
Mission site or data center: http://artemis.ssl.berkeley.edu/

Geotail

Full name: Geotail
Region: Outer magnetosphere/magnetotail, magnetosheath, near-Earth solar wind
Type: JAXA satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Explore the dynamics of the Earth's magnetotail over a wide range of distances, extending from the near-Earth region to the distant tail.
Mission site or data center: http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/missions/spacecraft/current/geotail.html

Inner Magnetosphere/Geosynchronous Orbit

Van Allen Probes (RBSP)

Full name: Van Allen Probes (formerly Radiation Belt Storm Probes)
Region: Inner magnetosphere
Type: NASA satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Discover and quantify the processes that accelerate and transport particles in the radiation belts and how the radiation belts respond and evolve during geomagnetic storms.
Mission site or data center: https://vanallenprobes.jhuapl.edu/

GOLD

Full name: Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk
Region: Upper atmosphere, ionosphere
Type: NASA satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Explore the global-scale properties of the Earth's thermosphere and the response of that region of the upper atmosphere to driving from terrestrial weather below and solar wind-magnetosphere interactions and energy inputs from above.
Mission site or data center: https://gold.cs.ucf.edu/

Arase (ERG)

Full name: Arase (formerly Exploration of energization and Radiation in Geospace)
Region: Inner magnetosphere
Type:s JAXA satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Determine the processes that energize particles in the radiation belts to such extreme energies and the role of geomagnetic storms in the creation of such high-energy particles.
Mission site or data center: https://ergsc.isee.nagoya-u.ac.jp/index.shtml.en

Low-Earth Orbit

AMPERE

Full name: Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment
Region: M-I coupling region: high-altitude, polar ionosphere
Type: NSF facility: Commercial satellite constellation – Iridium Communications Network
Summary of purpose: Investigate Earth's electrodynamic response and coupling between the ionosphere, magnetosphere, and solar wind using magnetometers onboard >70 Iridium Communications satellites.
Mission site or data center: https://ampere.jhuapl.edu/

COSMIC

Full name: Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate
Region: Global Atmosphere and Ionosphere
Type: UCAR Community Program: Consortium of space and ground-based GPS/GNSS receivers for radio occultation        
Summary of purpose: Provide high accuracy GNSS-RO measurements to the science community to study atmospheric and ionospheric structures and provide inputs to weather, climate, and ionospheric nowcasting and forecasting models.
Mission site or data center: https://www.cosmic.ucar.edu/

Swarm

Full name: Swarm
Region: Ionosphere
Type: ESA satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Expand our understanding of the Earth's magnetic field and interior through high-resolution measurements of the Earth's magnetic field from three identical satellites.
Mission site or data center: https://earth.esa.int/web/guest/missions/esa-operational-eo-missions/swarm

CHAMP

Full name: CHallenging Mini-satellite Payload
Region: Upper atmosphere/ionosphere
Type: German satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Map the global and temporal variations of the Earth's gravitational and magnetic field with high precision to enhance our understanding of the Earth's interior.
Mission site or data center: https://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/section/geomagnetism/infrastructure/champ/

GRACE

Full name: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
Region: Upper atmosphere/ionosphere
Type: NASA satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Map the variations in the Earth's gravity with exquisite precision using twin satellites to yield crucial information about the distribution and flow of mass in the Earth system.
Mission site or data center: https://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/grace/

ICON

Full name: Ionospheric Connection Explorer
Region: Ionosphere, thermosphere
Type: NASA satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Investigate changes in the ionosphere-thermosphere system and explore the interaction between Earth's atmosphere and the space environment.
Mission site or data center: https://icon.ssl.berkeley.edu/Data

GOCE

Full name: Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer
Region: Upper atmosphere, global surface
Type: ESA satellite mission
Summary of purpose: Measure Earth's gravity field and model the geoid with extremely high accuracy to better determine changes in surface features and understand Earth's interior.
Mission site or data center: https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/GOCE

DMSP

Full name: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
Region: Upper atmosphere/ionosphere, global surface
Type: Air Force satellite missions with scientific instrumentation
Summary of purpose: Monitor the atmospheric, oceanographic, hydrologic, cryospheric environments and the ionospheric plasma conditions in near-Earth space.
Mission site or data center: https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/satellite/dmsp/

Ground-Based

SuperDARN

Full name: Super Dual Auroral Radar Network
Region: Mid- to high-latitude upper atmosphere/ionosphere
Type: NSF facility: low-power, HF radar network
Summary of purpose: Provide measurements of plasma flows and irregularities in the ionosphere to understand the response and coupling of the auroral region with the Earth's magnetosphere and solar wind.
Mission site or data center: http://vt.superdarn.org, https://superdarn.jhuapl.edu/

SuperMAG

Full name: SuperMAG
Region: Global land-surface
Type: NSF supported: International ground-based magnetometer network
Summary of purpose: Utilize the collection of ground-based magnetometer stations throughout the world to study the global behavior of Earth's magnetic field and ionospheric current systems.
Mission site or data center: https://supermag.jhuapl.edu/

Ground-based GPS

Full name: Ground-based Global Positioning System
Region: Ionosphere
Type: U.S.-owned satellite constellation with international networks of ground-based receivers and transceivers
Summary of purpose: Provide important measurements of the ionosphere which are used to study the characteristics and structuring of the ionosphere and its responses to solar, magnetospheric, and atmospheric forcing.
Mission site or data center: http://www.igs.org/

PFISR and RISR

Full name: Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar, Resolute Bay Incoherent Scatter Radars
Region: Ionosphere
Type: NSF facility: Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radars
Summary of purpose: Track polar cap electrodynamics and advance our understanding of the coupling between regions within the high-latitude ionosphere and subsequent global effects.
Mission site or data center: http://isr.sri.com/iono/amisr/

THEMIS ASI

Full name: THEMIS Ground-Based All-Sky Imager Array
Type: Auroral zone, upper atmosphere/ionosphere
Summary of purpose: Observe the optical aurora over Alaska and Canada to determine the timing and location of the auroral substorm onset and auroral dynamics in relation to events in the magnetosphere.
Mission site or data center: http://themis.ssl.berkeley.edu/index.shtml