The ISEE3 / ICE Mission and the Satellite
The ISEE-3 spacecraft was one of the three spacecraft in the NASA/ESA ISEE (International Sun Earth Explorer) Program of the International Magnetospheric Study. It was launched on 12 August 1978 and inserted into a halo orbit about the libration (Lagrange) point situated at about 240 Earth radii upstream between the Earth and the Sun. So ISEE-3 could permanently observe the solar wind plasma before it arrived one hour later at the Earth to be correlatively studied by the two other spacecraft (ISEE-1 and -2) orbiting around the Earth.
ISEE-3 was stabilised by spin (about 20 rpm) around its principal axis which was maintained perpendicular to the ecliptic plane within 1 degree. It was stationed at the Lagrange point during nearly 4 years, from launch to June 1982. Then after it was redirected into a series of looping trajectories, using interaction with the lunar orbit, through the deep magnetic tail of Earth to explore the magnetosphere. After December 1983, the spacecraft was sent out of the Earth-moon system to its encounter with comet Giacobini-Zinner (September 1985) and consequently renamed ICE (International Cometary Explorer Mission).
Main Objectives
The primary goal of the ISEE program was to study the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth's magnetosphere. The role of ISEE-3 during its orbital life at the Lagrange point was to determine the properties of the oncoming solar wind before its interaction with the magnetosphere.
The ISEE-3 Project Scientist was T. T. von Rosenvinge, GSFC.
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The ISEE3 / ICE Mission and the Satellite
The ISEE-3 spacecraft was one of the three spacecraft in the NASA/ESA ISEE (International Sun Earth Explorer) Program of the International Magnetospheric Study. It was launched on 12 August 1978 and inserted into a halo orbit about the libration (Lagrange) point situated at about 240 Earth radii upstream between the Earth and the Sun. So ISEE-3 could permanently observe the solar wind plasma before it arrived one hour later at the Earth to be correlatively studied by the two other spacecraft (ISEE-1 and -2) orbiting around the Earth.
ISEE-3 was stabilised by spin (about 20 rpm) around its principal axis which was maintained perpendicular to the ecliptic plane within 1 degree. It was stationed at the Lagrange point during nearly 4 years, from launch to June 1982. Then after it was redirected into a series of looping trajectories, using interaction with the lunar orbit, through the deep magnetic tail of Earth to explore the magnetosphere. After December 1983, the spacecraft was sent out of the Earth-moon system to its encounter with comet Giacobini-Zinner (September 1985) and consequently renamed ICE (International Cometary Explorer Mission).
Main Objectives
The primary goal of the ISEE program was to study the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth's magnetosphere. The role of ISEE-3 during its orbital life at the Lagrange point was to determine the properties of the oncoming solar wind before its interaction with the magnetosphere.
The ISEE-3 Project Scientist was T. T. von Rosenvinge, GSFC.
| Role | Person | StartDate | StopDate | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | ProjectScientist | spase://CNES/Person/CDPP-Archive/Keith.Ogilvie |