WIND

Examine magnetospheric and solar wind plasmas - C. Owen, MAG team member - (1994-present)

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.