Two Dynamics Explorer (DE) spacecraft were launched August 3, 1981, and placed into coplanar polar orbits with DE-1 in a highly elliptical orbit and DE-2 in a lower more circular orbit. The primary objective of the DE program was to investigate magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere coupling processes. The DE mission provided a wealth of new information on a wide variety of magnetospheric plasma wave phenomena including auroral kilometric radiation, auroral hiss, Z mode radiation, narrow-band electromagnetic emissions associated with equatorial upper hybrid waves, whistler mode emissions, wave-particle interactions stimulated by ground VLF transmitters, equatorial ion cyclotron emissions, ion Bernstein mode emissions, and electric field turbulence along the auroral field lines. These files contain 8 second resolution emphemeris and spacecraft attitude parameters that coincide with DE-1 telemetry frames containing PWI lowrate data. These parameters are not to be taken as an authoritative set, but are convenient when working with PWI science data products. Most of these data are provided in the Geocentric Equatorial Inertial (GEI) TOD reference frame. The Z axis of the GEI frame is parallel to Earth's spin axis; the X axis points towards the First Point of Aries with the Y axis aligned so as to generate a right-handed coordinate system.
Version:2.6.0
Two Dynamics Explorer (DE) spacecraft were launched August 3, 1981, and placed into coplanar polar orbits with DE-1 in a highly elliptical orbit and DE-2 in a lower more circular orbit. The primary objective of the DE program was to investigate magnetosphere-ionosphere-atmosphere coupling processes. The DE mission provided a wealth of new information on a wide variety of magnetospheric plasma wave phenomena including auroral kilometric radiation, auroral hiss, Z mode radiation, narrow-band electromagnetic emissions associated with equatorial upper hybrid waves, whistler mode emissions, wave-particle interactions stimulated by ground VLF transmitters, equatorial ion cyclotron emissions, ion Bernstein mode emissions, and electric field turbulence along the auroral field lines. These files contain 8 second resolution emphemeris and spacecraft attitude parameters that coincide with DE-1 telemetry frames containing PWI lowrate data. These parameters are not to be taken as an authoritative set, but are convenient when working with PWI science data products. Most of these data are provided in the Geocentric Equatorial Inertial (GEI) TOD reference frame. The Z axis of the GEI frame is parallel to Earth's spin axis; the X axis points towards the First Point of Aries with the Y axis aligned so as to generate a right-handed coordinate system.
| Role | Person | StartDate | StopDate | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | PrincipalInvestigator | spase://SMWG/Person/Donald.A.Gurnett | |||
| 2. | MetadataContact | spase://SMWG/Person/Jolene.S.Pickett | |||
| 3. | MetadataContact | spase://SMWG/Person/Larry.J.Granroth | |||
| 4. | MetadataContact | spase://SMWG/Person/Chris.W.Piker | |||
| 5. | MetadataContact | spase://SMWG/Person/Lee.Frost.Bargatze |
Direct link to CDF format data via FTP from the SPDF.
Direct link to CDF format data via HTTP from the SPDF.
Access to ASCII, CDF, and plots via NASA/GSFC CDAWeb.
Web Service to this product using the HAPI interface.
NSSDC standard reference time associated with the start of a PWI SFR sweep
GEI (Geocentric Equatorial Inertial) Satellite Velocity Vector (km/sec). The order of the vector components is v(x), v(y), v(z).
Altitude above a spheroid Earth, not above the geoid.
Geographic latitude of subsatellite point in degrees
Geographic longitude of the satellite in degrees
Magnetic Local Time. MLT was defined via the conventional Solar Magnetic frame.
McIlwain's shell parameter (L)
Current spacecraft field line footprint's geomagnetic latitude.
Magnetic field strength. Any discrepancy between these data and those provided by the magnetometer instrument's own files should be resolved in favor of the latter. See 'Magnetic Field Observations on DE-A and -B', W. H. Farthing, et al., Space Science Instrumentation 5 (1981) for more information.
GEI (Geocentric Equatorial Inertial) Magnetic Vector in nanoTesla. The order of the vector components is B(x), B(y), B(z). Any discrepancy between these data and those provided by the magnetometer instrument's own files should be resolved in favor of the latter. See 'Magnetic Field Observations on DE-A and -B', W. H. Farthing, et al., Space Science Instrumentation 5 (1981) for more information.
The orbit number from PWI archive files.
3-by-3 rotation matrix for the transformation from spacecraft coordinates to the GEI frame. The order of the elements is [1,1] = X(x), [1,2] = X(y), [1,3] = X(z), [2,1] = Y(x), [2,2] = Y(y), [2,3] = Y(z), [3,1] = Z(x), [3,2] = Z(y), and [3,3] = Z(z)
Spacecraft position in GEI coordinates, the order of the coordinates is X, Y, Z.
GEI (Geocentric Equatorial Inertial) Satellite Velocity Vector (km/sec) relative to a rotating atmosphere.
GEI (Geocentric Equatorial Inertial) unit vector toward the sun. The order of the components is X, Y, Z.
Angle between the Velocity Vector and the Spacecraft X-axis
Sunlight/Darkness flag, 0 = Darkness, 1 = Sunlight
Geocentric radial distance in Earth Radii. Here 1 Re = 6378.2 km
Magnetic latitude in degrees