Science and Space

space and astronomy articles.

Ongoing Space Missions(1)

(This is the first part of the series "Ongoing Space Missions" in which I will try to inform the readers all about the spacecrafts still travelling or operating beyond near-earth orbit)

The Advanced Composition Explorer(ACE)

Launched 1997 August 25

The objective -

to observe particles of solar, interplanetary, interstellar, and galactic origins.

Mission Basics-

The Earth is constantly bombarded with a stream of accelerated particles arriving from the Sun and interstellar and galactic sources. Study of these energetic particles will contribute to our understanding of the formation and evolution of the solar system as well as the astrophysical processes involved. ACE spacecraft is carrying six high-resolution sensors and three monitoring instruments.

When reporting space weather ACE can provide an advance warning (about one hour) of geomagnetic storms that can overload power grids, disrupt communications on Earth, and present a hazard to astronauts.

ACE orbits the L1 libration point which is a point of Earth-Sun gravitational equilibrium about 1.5 million km from Earth and 148.5 million km from the Sun.

End of mission

The spacecraft has enough propellant on board to maintain an orbit at L1 until 2019.

posted by: kyawoo at 23:03 | link | comments |
unmanned missions

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