Cluster Technical Challenges and Scientific Achievements

Escoubet, C. P.; Masson, A.; Laakso, H.; Taylor, M. G. G. T.; Volpp, J.; Sieg, D.; Hapgood, M. A.; Goldstein, M. L.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-03952-7_30

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Earlier investigations in 2011–2013 can be found in Escoubet et al. (2015). Up to 10 orbits were dedicated to each investigation.…”

Section: Science Highlightsmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…This showed that smallscale magnetic field structures exist within the wider bow shock and indicates that such structures favor the Note. Earlier investigations in 2011-2013 can be found in Escoubet et al (2015). Up to 10 orbits were dedicated to each investigation.…”

Section: Energetic Electrons At the Magnetopausementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, it turned out that it seemed impossible to switch‐on both current lines quickly enough since each required a single command, separated by 39 ms (Figure 1). The “trick” found by the flight control team was to use only one execute command and to change the command register after a few ms. After the second attempt the instrument was successfully recovered on June 1, 2011 (for more details on the recovery see Escoubet et al., 2015).…”

Section: Technical Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was only the beginning of ups and downs (Escoubet et al., 2015) to achieve the Cluster science dreamt of by their proposers. The largest drawback was the loss of the four Cluster spacecraft due to the failure of the maiden Ariane 5 launch on June 4, 1996.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cluster After 20 Years of Operations: Science Highlights and Technical Challenges

et al. 2021

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The Cluster mission was the first constellation using four identical spacecraft to study Sun‐Earth connection plasma processes. Using four spacecraft in a tetrahedron shape, it could measure, for the first time, 3D quantities such as electrical currents, plasma gradients or divergence of the electron pressure tensor and 3D structures such as boundaries, surface waves or vortices. Launched in pairs in July and August 2000, on two Soyuz rockets from Baikonur, the four spacecraft have been collecting data continuously for more than 20 years. The mission faced many challenges during the years of operations as some spacecraft subsystems had a lifetime of a few years beyond the initial two‐year mission. The major one was to operate without functioning batteries and to successfully pass short and long eclipses, up to 3 h long, without damaging the on‐board computers and transmitters and without freezing the fuel. More than 1,000 eclipses have been successfully passed since 2010 using a specially made procedure which switches off the complete spacecraft before entering into eclipse and switches it on when the Sun is again illuminating the solar panels. During 20 years, many discoveries and science results have been published in more than 2,700 scientific papers. A few highlights are presented here, focusing on how varying the spacecraft separation was essential to achieve the science goals of the mission. The Cluster Science Data System and the Cluster archive allows public access to all science data as well as spacecraft ancillary data.

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“…Earlier investigations in 2011–2013 can be found in Escoubet et al. (2015). Up to 10 orbits were dedicated to each investigation.…”

Section: Science Highlightsmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Energetic Electrons At the Magnetopausementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Technical Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations