Below is a list of satellites which have provided data on the Earth's magnetosphere.
| Satellite |
Launch Date |
Inclination of orbital plane to Earth's equator |
Lifetime (days) |
Range (γ) |
Sensitivity |
Distance RE |
| Sputnik 3 |
March 15, 1958 |
65° |
30 |
<60,000 |
5% |
<1.3 |
| Explorer 3 |
March 1958 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Pioneer 1 |
October 11, 1958 |
Earth impact |
1 |
<1000 |
1% |
3.7-7.0 |
| Lunik 1 |
January 2, 1959 |
Solar orbit |
1 |
<6,000 |
200γ |
3-6 |
| Explorer 6 |
August 7, 1959 |
47° |
61 |
<20,000 |
3% |
2-7.5 |
| Lunik 2 |
September 12, 1959 |
Lunar impact |
1.4° |
<1,500 |
50γ |
3-6 |
| Vanguard 3 |
September 18, 1959 |
33° |
85 |
10,000-60,000 |
4γ |
<1.8 |
| Pioneer 5 |
March 11, 1960 |
Solar orbit |
50° |
<1,000 |
0.05-5γ |
5-9 |
| Explorer 10 |
March 25, 1961 |
33° |
2.2 |
30-5,000 |
3γ |
1.8-7 |
| Explorer 12 |
August 16, 1961 |
33° |
112 |
±500 |
10γ |
4-13.5 |
| Alouette 1 |
September 29, 1962 |
80° |
Still operating |
60,000 |
0.3% |
1.17 |
| Explorer 14 |
October 3, 1962 |
33° |
300 |
±250 |
5γ |
5-16.5 |
| International Cometary Explorer |
August 12, 1978 |
|
|
|
|
| Dynamics Explorer |
August 3, 1981 |
|
|
|
|
| GEOTAIL |
July 24, 1992 |
|
Still operating |
|
|
|
| WIND |
November 1, 1994 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Ørsted |
February 23, 1999 |
96.4798° |
Still operating |
|
|
|
| IMAGE |
March 25, 2000 |
|
|
|
|
|
| THEMIS |
February 17, 2001 |
16° |
|
|
|
|
| Double Star mission |
December 29, 2003 & July 25, 2004 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Cluster mission |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Polar |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| TWINS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Van Allen Probes |
August 30, 2012 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Ion Release Module |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Charge Composition Explorer |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| MMS |
no earlier than 2014 |
|
|
|
|
|
-
1γ = 10−5 oersted = Dynamic range of instrumentation
References [edit]
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|
|
| Submagnetosphere |
|
|
| Earth's magnetosphere |
|
|
| Solar wind |
|
|
| Satellites |
|
|
| Research projects |
|
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| Other magnetospheres |
|
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| Related topics |
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