T E Moore, NASA/GSFC/Code 692

15 June 2001: Magnetospheric Constellation Mission STDT Report Released
A report on the Magnetospheric Constellation: Dynamic Response and Coupling Observatory (DRACO) has been in preparation for the past two years, and is now complete and available online. Either hard copy or electronic versions can be requested at the link above. The hard copy version comes with a short introductory movie on CD-ROM, and an animated card that illustrates one possible form of magnetotail dynamics that requires a constellation approach for definitive study. A much more revealing movie of this simulated magnetotail behavior can be downloaded from the report site. MC-DRACO is an approved mission of the Solar Terrestrial Probes Program of the NASA Sun Earth Connections Theme, and has been studied and defined by a NASA-appointed Science and Technology Definition Team, as identified in the report.

April 2001: IMAGE Mission Featured in Scientific American
The Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) mission (see link at left) is the subject of a feature article in the April 01 Scientific American. A paper by PI Jim Burch describes space storms and the pioneering new observations of space weather made by IMAGE. Please visit the IMAGE site for more information about this exciting mission.

26 January 2001: IMAGE Mission Featured in Science
The Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) mission (see link at left) is a cover story in Science magazine this month. A paper by PI Jim Burch et al. chronicles the pioneering new observations of space weather made by IMAGE. Never before have we been able to see the plasma clouds swirling around the earth as they form and dissipate during geospace storms. This first publication on IMAGE results features images of the cold plasmas in scattered extreme ultraviolet sunlight, and the hot plasmas of the ring current in energetic neutral atom glow, as shown in the linked image. On the left is a blue EUV image showing formation of a spiral plasma tail on the left side of the plasmasphere, around the Earth. The plasmasphere temperature is around 5000°C or 9000°F. On the right is an image of the "ring" of hot plasma just outside the plasmasphere, carrying electrical current around the Earth. The temperature of the ring current is about 1 Billion °C or 1.8 Billion °F. Of course, these images don't do justice to the dynamic behavior of these two important plasma regions near the Earth. Please visit the IMAGE site for more information about this exciting mission.

T E Moore, Head
Interplanetary Physics Branch
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Code 692, Bldg.2, Rm.138
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Fax: 707-988-7835