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WIND Spacecraft

Wind Project Scientist
Lynn B. Wilson III
(301) 286-6487
lynn.b.wilson [at] nasa.gov

Two Columns

WIND SPACECRAFT

Comprehensive Solar Wind Laboratory for Long-Term Solar Wind Measurements

Wind is a spin stabilized spacecraft launched with a Delta II rock on November 1, 1994. After several orbits through the magnetosphere, Wind was placed in a halo orbit around the L1 Lagrange point -- more than 200 Re upstream of Earth -- in early 2004 to observe the unperturbed solar wind that is about to impact the magnetosphere of Earth. Wind, together with Geotail, Polar, SoHO and Cluster, constitute a cooperative scientific satellite project designated the International Solar Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) program that aims at gaining improved understanding of the physics of solar terrestrial relations.

The primary science objectives of the Wind mission are:

Provide complete plasma, energetic particle and magnetic field for magnetospheric and ionospheric studies.
Investigate basic plasma processes occurring in the near-Earth solar wind.
Provide baseline, 1 AU, ecliptic plane observations for inner and outer heliospheric missions.

AWARDS

Engineering Operations Award [September, 2015]: The Wind Operations Team, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, received the AIAA Space Operations & Support Award on September 2, 2015. The award honors the team's "exceptional ingenuity and personal sacrifice in the recovery of NASA's Wind spacecraft." Jacqueline Snell - engineering manager for Wind, Geotail, and ACE Missions - will accept the award on behalf of the team. [Award Details]

Group Achievement Award [June, 2015]: The Wind Operations Team, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, received the NASA Group Achievement Award for recovery of the Wind spacecraft's command and attitude processor. [Award Details]

NEWS: Highlights and Updates

Mission Highlight [January, 2017]:
Wind data has been used (directly or indirectly) in more than 4000 refereed scientific publications!

Science Highlight [November, 2016]:
Data from the Wind spacecraft was used in to support a recent study published in the journal Physical Review Letters that was selected as an Editors' Suggestion article at Electron Acceleration, highlighted at NASA and Physical Review Letters Highlights and THEMIS Nuggets, and some fun visualizations of Shock Drift Acceleration.

Mission Update [June, 2016]:
Dr. Lynn B. Wilson III was promoted to the project scientist role for the Wind spacecraft.

Science Highlight [December, 2014]:
The Wind spacecraft recently turned 20 on November 1, 2014. The anniversary of its launch was marked by a special session at the 2014 Fall AGU General Assembly entitled Twenty Years of Wind Observations and a highlight on NASA's homepage at A Solar Wind Workhorse Marks 20 Years of Science Discoveries.

Science Highlight [September, 2014]:
A recent study discussing the sonification of Wind magnetic field data was featured on NASA's homepage at More Than Meets the Eye: NASA Scientists Listen to Data and Popular Science at NASA Scientists Study The Sun By Listening To It.

Science Highlight [April, 2013]:
A recent publication using data from the Wind spacecraft was featured on NASA's homepage at NASA’s Wind Mission Encounters ‘SLAMS’ Waves.

Science Highlight [March, 2013]:
A recent publication using data from the Wind spacecraft was highlighted as a Physical Review Letters spotlight article and a NASA Feature Article at Solar Wind Energy Source Discovered.

Science Highlight [April, 2012]:
A recent publication using data from the Wind spacecraft was featured on NASA's homepage at Riding the Plasma Wave.

New Data Products

New WAVES Data Set:
The WAVES time domain sampler (TDS) receiver, which measures high frequency electric and magnetic fluctuations, also observes the plasma cloud produced by dust impacts on the spacecraft body. David Malaspina (PI) and Lynn B. Wilson III (Co-I) recently scanned through and compiled a list of all the dust impacts observed by the TDS receiver between Jan. 1, 1995 and Jan. 1, 2016 called the dust impact database. The data set was publicly released and is availble at CDAWeb.

New SWE Ion Faraday Cup Data Sets:
Newly procesed Wind SWE Ion Faraday Cup (FCs) data sets are available on the Data section of this page. The SWE Ion reduced velocity distribution function data sets are availble at CDAWeb.

New graphical user interface (GUI) software release for analyzing the SWE FC data sets can be found at Janus.

New EPACT Data Sets:
Newly procesed Wind EPACT-LEMT data sets are available on the Data section of this page. The data are also availble at CDAWeb and VEPO.

New release of the 20 MeV proton channel from the EPACT-APE detector are available at VEPO.