NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Overview of the Solar-B MissionThe Solar-B mission is a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) of the United Kingdom and the European Space Agency. The principal scientific goals of the mission are to understand the processes of magnetic field generation, transport and ultimate dissipation of solar magnetic fields and how the release of magnetic energy is responsible for the heating and structuring of the chromosphere and corona. The scientific payload consists of three instruments: the Solar Optical Telescope that consists of the Optical Telescope Assembly and the Focal Plane Package (FPP), the X-ray Telescope and the EUV Imaging Spectrometer Each instrument is a result of the combined talents of all the members of the international team and their design and performance is described in separate papers in this session. The instruments are designed to work together as an 'observatory' simultaneously studying the target, at which the spacecraft is pointed, at different levels in the atmosphere. The spacecraft is scheduled for launch in September 2006 from the Uchinoura Space Center into a 600 km circular, sun-synchronous, polar orbit with a nominal elevation of 97.9 degrees. The orbit provides at least two morning and two evening contacts in Japan. Morning contacts are used for recovering quick look science data and the evening contacts for uploading commands. In addition ESA will provide 15 contacts per day from the Norwegian high latitude (78deg 14' N) ground station at Svalbard. The data downloads are transmitted to the ISAS Sirius database. They will be reformatted into FITS files and archived as Level 0 data on the ISAS DARTS system and made available to the scientific community. Scientific operations will be conducted from the IS AS facility located in Sagamihara, Japan. They are separated into planning, implementation and archiving. The planning process involves monthly, weekly and daily planning meetings. All scientific data will be made available after the first six month approximately one week after its collection.
Document ID
20060025082
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Davis, John M.
(NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2006
Subject Category
Space Sciences (General)
Meeting Information
Meeting: American Astronomical Society Solar Physics Division Meeting
Location: Durham, NH
Country: United States
Start Date: June 25, 2006
End Date: June 30, 2006
Sponsors: American Astronomical Society
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available