The Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) Mission
Abstract
Photometer instruments on board the HELIOS spacecraft have shown that it is feasible to image the changing global electron content of the heliosphere. With this contract UCSD will enhance the development of a second-generation heliospheric imager (all-sky), and provide unique software algorithms for processing the flight data, that will be capable of obtaining heliospheric images at high spatial and temporal resolution from an 800 km Earth orbit. With these enhancements, the imager will provide a global brightness map of nearly the entire sky, once per orbit. The heliospheric features to be imaged include mass ejections (near the Sun these ejections of material are called coronal mass ejections or CMEs), streamers and shock waves coming from the Sun. Observations from the instrument will allow deconvolution of these structures from the perspective views of them as they pass Earth. Because of its ability to provide these observations in near-real-time prior to their arrival at Earth, the imager will be important for "space weather forecasts of Earth's geomagnetic disturbances.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 06, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA427103
Entities
People
- A. Buffington
- B. V. Jackson
- P. P. Hick
Organizations
- University of California Regents