Is THEMIS a satellite?
THEMIS was initially launched as a five-satellite team in 2007. In 2010, after the end of THEMIS’ prime mission, two of the spacecraft were repurposed to start a new mission: Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun, or ARTEMIS.
What is the purpose of the us space agency’s THEMIS mission which was recently in the news?
THEMIS is a mission within NASA’s MIDEX (Medium Explorer) program, approved in May 2004. The goal of THEMIS is to fly five small spacecraft through explosive geomagnetic disturbances to solve the mystery of what triggers the colorful eruptions of the Northern and Southern lights.
What does THEMIS measure?
The SCM measures low frequency magnetic field fluctuations and waves in three directions in Earth’s magnetoshpere. The ESA measures thermal electrons and ions to identify and track high-speed flows through the magnetotail and identify pressure pulses. The SST measures particle distribution functions.
What are auroral beads?
Imbalances in the buoyancy between the bubbles and heavier plasma in the magnetosphere creates fingers of plasma 4000 kilometres wide – much like a giant lava lamp. Signatures of these fingers create the bead-shaped structure in the aurora.
What does THEMIS mean?
Themis, (Greek: “Order”) in Greek religion, personification of justice, goddess of wisdom and good counsel, and the interpreter of the gods’ will.
What is THEMIS NASA?
The Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms —THEMIS — mission studies how mass and energy move through the near-Earth space environment in order to determine the details of what initiates the dancing lights of auroras near the poles.
What is NASA’s Artemis Project?
NASA Artemis. With Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. We will collaborate with commercial and international partners and establish the first long-term presence on the Moon.
What happened to Themis?
In a fragment of Pindar, Themis was brought from the springs of Oceanus by the Moirai (in this version not her daughters) to Olympus, where she became the first wife of Zeus (rather than the second), and by him the mother of the Horae.
What is the magnetopause where is it located?
For planetary science, the magnetopause is the boundary between the planet’s magnetic field and the solar wind. The location of the magnetopause is determined by the balance between the pressure of the dynamic planetary magnetic field and the dynamic pressure of the solar wind.
What does a thermal emission imaging system do?
The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) By looking at the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum, THEMIS is determining the distribution of minerals on the surface of Mars and helping scientists understand how the mineralogy of the planet relates to the landforms.
What has Themis done?
Themis (Divine Law) was the counsellor of Zeus who sat enthroned beside him, advising him on the conduct of men, reporting on those who breached the primal laws laid down by the gods. She was assisted by her daughter Dike (Justice).
How does a magnetopause work?
Magnetopause. The magnetopause is the area of the magnetosphere wherein the pressure from the planetary magnetic field is balanced with the pressure from the solar wind. It is the convergence of the shocked solar wind from the magnetosheath with the magnetic field of the object and plasma from the magnetosphere.
Where are the THEMIS satellites now?
The five THEMIS satellites were orbited together by a Delta II launcher from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 16 February 2007. Orbiting at different distances from Earth, the THEMIS satellites line up every four days over North America along the Sun-Earth axis, in the region called the magnetotail.
What kind of data does Themis provide?
THEMIS Data Overview The THEMIS probes provide field and plasma observations of the solar wind, magnetosheath, and magnetosphere. THEMIS ground-based observatories provie observations of the aurora and corresponding magnetic field perturbations over northern North America.
What is the function of the idpu in the THEMIS spacecraft?
THEMIS spacecraft bus with instruments. THEMIS spacecraft instruments. The IDPU houses most of the electronics for the instruments on the THEMIS spacacraft. The EFI is designed and built to sense the electric field in Earth’s ever-changing magnetosphere.
What is the purpose of Themis and Artemis?
THEMIS and ARTEMIS. Launched in 2007, THEMIS’s goal was to determine what physical process in near-Earth space initiates the violent eruptions of the aurora that occur during substorms in Earth’s magnetosphere. In 2010, two of its five spacecraft were repurposed as ARTEMIS to study the Moon’s interactions with the Sun.