Post-launch support for Cluster FGM
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
Cluster is a European Space Agency mission of four spacecraft launched into orbit around the Earth. The four spacecraft carry 11 instruments each, together designed to probe the physical processes that control the collisionless plasma environment of the Earth. The spacecraft fly in a tetrahedron formation, allowing the three dimensional structure of the plasma to be measured in-situ for the first time, and distinguished from variations in the plasma as a function of time. The Cluster orbit takes the spacecraft through regions of the Earth's magnetosphere that are the sites of fundamental processes in collisionless plasmas, including magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in the solar wind, energy partition in collisionless shock processes, energy transfer through reconnection and other processes at the magnetopause, energy flow into the magnetosphere through the cusps, particle acceleration in the auroral zone, and substorm processes, including reconnection and current disruption, in the magnetotail. Imperial College is the Principal Investigator institution for the flux-gate magnetometer (FGM) that forms part of each Cluster payload. The magnetic field is a key parameter in understanding the behaviour of collisionless plasmas, and therefore the FGM instrument contributes to nearly every scientific study carried out using Cluster data. As the PI institution we are responsible for the ongoing routine operation and continued health of the four FGM instruments, the maintenance of the link through which data is supplied in real time to other instruments on the payload, and the calibration and delivery of high resolution data suitable for detailed scientific analysis to the Cluster Active Archive (CAA), set up and run by ESA. The purpose of this grant is to request support for the continuation of these responsibilities for the remainder of the Cluster mission, currently planned to run until at least June 2009.
Organisations
Publications
Balikhin MA
(2015)
Observations of discrete harmonics emerging from equatorial noise.
in Nature communications
Berchem J
(2008)
Reconnection at the dayside magnetopause: Comparisons of global MHD simulation results with Cluster and Double Star observations
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Bogdanova Y
(2008)
Formation of the low-latitude boundary layer and cusp under the northward IMF: Simultaneous observations by Cluster and Double Star
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Brown P
(2008)
Calibration techniques for magnetometers implementing on-board de-spinning algorithms
in Advances in Space Research
Cao J
(2008)
Characteristics of middle- to low-latitude Pi2 excited by bursty bulk flows
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Cao X
(2008)
Multispacecraft and ground-based observations of substorm timing and activations: Two case studies
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Cornilleau-Wehrlin N
(2008)
Latitude and local time dependence of ULF wave power at the magnetopause: A Cluster-Double Star study
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Du J
(2009)
Mirror waves and mode transition observed in the magnetosheath by Double Star TC-1
in Annales Geophysicae
Duan S
(2008)
TC-1 observation of ion high-speed flow reversal in the near-Earth plasma sheet during substorm
in Science in China Series E: Technological Sciences
Description | Direct funding from ESA Cluster Active Archive |
Amount | £328,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | European Society of Anaesthesiologists (ESA) |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Belgium |
Start | 12/2010 |
End | 11/2013 |
Title | Cluster Science Archive |
Description | The Cluster Science Archive contains all the FGM Fluxgate Magnetometer data from each of the four UK-built instruments on the Cluster satellites processed and calibrated to the highest time-resolution possible. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Availability of the Cluster Science Archive data has revolutionised exploitation of the Cluster datasets and in particular the FGM data has been used in probably the majority of the over 2000 peer-reviewed publications resulting from the Cluster mission (http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=39766) |
URL | http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/csa/the-mission |