Advanced Composition Explorer

All you want to know about Advanced Composition Explorer

Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE)

An artist's concept of ACE
Organization NASA
Mission type Orbiter
Satellite of Earth
Launch date August 25, 1997
Launch vehicle Delta II
Mission duration 8-25-1997 to late 2022
NSSDC ID 1997-045A
Home page Advanced Composition Explorer Home
Mass 596 kilograms (1,313 lb)
Power 44 Watts
Orbital elements
Semimajor axis 2.57
Eccentricity 0.98967
Inclination 28.7°
Orbital period 1,398 hours (58.25 days)
Apoapsis 1,256,768 kilometers (780,919 mi)
Periapsis 179 kilometers (111 mi)

Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) is a space exploration mission being conducted as part of the Explorer program to study matter in situ, comprising energetic particles from the solar wind, the interplanetary medium, and other sources. Real-time data from ACE is used by the Space Weather Prediction Center to improve forecasts and warnings of solar storms.[1] The ACE robotic spacecraft was launched August 25, 1997 and is currently operating in a Lissajous orbit close to the L1 Lagrange point (which lies between the Sun and the Earth at a distance of some 1.5 million km from the latter).

Instrumentation

Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS): CRIS determines the isotope composition of galactic cosmic rays. It is designed to be sensitive enough to detect isotopes up to the range of zinc (Z-30).[2]

ACE Real Time Solar Wind (RTSW):

Solar Wind Ion Mass Spectrometer (SWIMS) and Solar Wind Ion Composition Spectrometer (SWICS): These two instruments are time-of-flight mass spectrometers, each tuned for a different set of measurements. They analyze the chemical and isotopic composition of solar wind and interstellar matter.[3]

Ultra-Low Energy Isotope Spectrometer (ULEIS): ULEIS measures ion flux and is sensitive to a range from helium through nickel to determine the makeup of solar energetic particles and the mechanism by which the particles become charged by the sun.[4]

Solar Energetic Particle Ionic Charge Analyzer (SEPICA):

Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS):

Solar Wind Electron, Proton and Alpha Monitor (SWEPAM):

Electron, Proton, and Alpha-particle Monitor (EPAM):

Magnetometer (MAG):

References

  1. ^ "Satellite to aid space weather forecasting" (06/24/99). Retrieved on 24 October, 2008.
  2. ^ "CRIS: The Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer" (5 September 1997). Retrieved on 30 June, 2006.
  3. ^ "ACE/SWICS & ACE/SWIMS". The Solar and Heliospheric Research Group. Retrieved on 30 June, 2006.
  4. ^ "The ACE/ULEIS Homepage". Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (November 1, 2005). Retrieved on 30 June, 2006.

External links

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: ACE (spacecraft)
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