Spacecraft design considerations for an inner-magnetosphere imager mission

Melody C. Herrmann; Charles L. Johnson

doi:10.1117/12.60574

1 June 1992 Spacecraft design considerations for an inner-magnetosphere imager mission

Melody C. Herrmann, Charles L. Johnson

Proceedings Volume 1744, Instrumentation for Magnetospheric Imagery; (1992) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.60574
Event: San Diego '92, 1992, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

Imaging the Earth's magnetosphere from space will enable scientists to better understand the global shape of the inner magnetosphere, its components and processes. The proposed Inner Magnetosphere Imager (IMI) mission will obtain the first simultaneous images of the component regions of the inner magnetosphere and will enable scientists to relate these global images to internal and external influences as well as local observations. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is performing a concept definition study of the proposed mission. As currently envisioned, the baseline mission calls for an instrument complement of approximately seven imagers to be flown in an elliptical Earth orbit with an apogee of seven Earth Radii (RE). Several spacecraft concepts have been examined for the mission. The baseline concept utilizes a spinning spacecraft with a despun platform, the second uses a three-axis stabilized spacecraft with a spinning platform, while the third option splits the instruments onto two small satellites; a spinning spacecraft and a complementary three-axis stabilized spacecraft. This paper will address the mission objectives, the rationale for using proven spacecraft designs, and the preliminary concept definition study team results for all three options.

Citation Download Citation

Melody C. Herrmann and Charles L. Johnson "Spacecraft design considerations for an inner-magnetosphere imager mission", Proc. SPIE 1744, Instrumentation for Magnetospheric Imagery, (1 June 1992); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.60574

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