Heliophysics Explorers

To complement its strategic mission programs, Heliophysics makes effective use of the Explorer program for competitive PI-led missions. This program is managed by the Heliophysics Division and solicits missions for both Heliophysics and Astrophysics. The current heliophysics Explorer mission in development is IBEX, which will launch in 2008 to observe the heliospheric boundary with interstellar space from a perch in high Earth orbit. SMD is working to increase the flight rate of missions in this class and expects to select two or three new small missions in 2008 in response to a solicitation released in 2007; these new missions will be a mix of heliophysics and astrophysics missions.

Launch Date	A-Z	Phase
20070426 April 25, 2007	AIM Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM)  is a mission to determine the causes of the highest altitude clouds in the Earth's atmosphere. The number of clouds in the middle...	Operating
19970826 August 25, 1997	ACE Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) observes particles of solar, interplanetary, interstellar, and galactic origins, spanning the energy range from solar wind ions to...	Operating
19960822 August 21, 1996	FAST Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer (FAST) studies the detailed plasma physics of the Earth's auroral regions. Ground support campaigns coordinate satellite measurements with...	Operating
19920724 July 24, 1992	Geotail The GEOTAIL mission is a collaborative project undertaken by the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and NASA. Its primary objective is to study the...	Operating
19960225 February 24, 1996	Polar Polar is the second of two NASA spacecraft in the Global Geospace Science (GGS) initiative and part of the ISTP Project. GGS is designed to improve greatly the understanding...	Past
20020202 February 02, 2002	RHESSI Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscope Imager (RHESSI)  studies solar flares in X-rays and gamma-rays. It explores the basic physics of particle acceleration and...	Operating
19951203 December 02, 1995	SOHO Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)  is a solar observatory studying the structure, chemical composition, and dynamics of the solar interior. SOHO a joint venture of...	Operating
20070218 February 17, 2007	THEMIS Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS)  is a study of the onset of magnetic storms within the tail of the Earth's magnetosphere....	Operating
19980402 April 01, 1998	TRACE Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) observes the effects of the emergence of magnetic flux from deep inside the Sun to the outer corona with high spatial and...	Operating
20000717 July 16, 2000	Cluster-II Cluster is a European Space Agency program with major NASA involvement. The 4 Cluster spacecraft are providing a detailed three-dimensional map of the magnetosphere, with...	Operating
19901007 October 06, 1990	Ulysses The Ulysses Mission is the first spacecraft to explore interplanetary space at high solar latitudes, orbiting the Sun nearly perpendicular to the plane in which the planets...	Operating
19941102 November 01, 1994	Wind Wind studies the solar wind and its impact on the near-Earth environment. This mission is part of SMD's Heliophysics Research...	Operating
20080416 20:00:00 USEastern April 16, 2008	CINDI/CNOFS The Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigations (CINDI) is a mission to understand the dynamics of the Earth's ionosphere. CINDI will provide two instruments for the...	Operating
20080227 February 26, 2008	TWINS A & B TWINS will provide stereo imaging of the Earth's magnetosphere, the region surrounding the planet controlled by its magnetic field and containing the Van Allen radiation...	Operating
19770906 September 05, 1977	Voyager The twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft continue exploring where nothing from Earth has flown before. In the 25th year after their 1977 launches, they each are much farther away...	Operating

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Heliophysics Explorers