TIMED [JHU/APL]
The TIMED (Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics & Dynamics) mission was designed to study the physical and chemical processes acting within and upon the coupled mesosphere, lower-thermosphere/ ionosphere system between about 60 and 180 km. TIMED investigates a region that is difficult to study because it is too high for even the largest research balloons and still dense enough to quickly cause a satellite to decay from orbit. Because of the lack of measurements this atmospheric region is often referred to as the "ignorosphere". Absorping a considerable amount of solar ultraviolet radiation from the sun and intercepting high energy atomic particles, this region is the "skin" between the life-sustaining lower layers and outer space. Originally proposed as a two-spacecraft mission, the TIMED project was rescoped to a one-satellite mission due to budgetary pressure. TIMED was downsized to a core mission of four experiments and six interdisciplinary investigations and mission management was moved to JHU-APL in an effort to reduce the cost to the $100M level. The instruments include:
Nation: | USA |
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Type / Application: | Science, Atmosphere |
Operator: | NASA |
Contractors: | Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) |
Equipment: | SEE, TIDI, GUVI, SABER |
Configuration: | |
Propulsion: | |
Power: | 2 deployable solar arrays, batteries |
Lifetime: | |
Mass: | 548 kg |
Orbit: | 627 km × 640 km, 74.1° |
Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
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TIMED (STP 1) | 2001-055B | 07.12.2001 | Va SLC-2W | Delta-7920-10C | with Jason 1 |