Wind (spacecraft)

Wind
Wind satellite is the first of NASA's Global Geospace Science program
NamesGGS/Wind, ISTP/Wind, Interplanetary Physics Laboratory
Mission typeHeliophysics
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID1994-071A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.23333
Websitehttp://wind.nasa.gov/
Mission duration3 years (planned)
30 years, 5 days
(in progress)
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerMartin Marietta
Launch mass1,250 kg (2,760 lb) [1]
Dry mass950 kg (2,090 lb)
Payload mass195 kg (430 lb)
Dimensions2.4 × 1.8 m (7 ft 10 in × 5 ft 11 in)
Power370 watts
Start of mission
Launch date1 November 1994, 09:31:00 UTC
RocketDelta II 7925-10 (Delta 227)
Launch siteCape Canaveral, SLC-17B
ContractorMcDonnell Douglas
End of mission
Last contact2070 (planned)
Orbital parameters
Reference systemHeliocentric orbit
RegimeL1 Lagrange point
Sun orbiter
Orbital insertionMay 2004

Wind mission patch
← Geotail
Polar →

The Global Geospace Science (GGS) Wind satellite is a NASA science spacecraft designed to study radio waves and plasma that occur in the solar wind and in the Earth's magnetosphere. It was launched on 1 November 1994, at 09:31:00 UTC, from launch pad LC-17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Merritt Island, Florida, aboard a McDonnell Douglas Delta II 7925-10 rocket. Wind was designed and manufactured by Martin Marietta Astro Space Division in East Windsor Township, New Jersey. The satellite is a spin-stabilized cylindrical satellite with a diameter of 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) and a height of 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in).[2]

The spacecraft's original mission was to orbit the Sun at the L1 Lagrangian point, but this was delayed to study the magnetosphere and near lunar environment when the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft were sent to the same location. Wind has been at L1 continuously since May 2004, and is still operating as of 2024.[2] As of 2024, Wind currently has enough fuel to last over 50 more years at L1, until at least 2070.[3] Wind continues to collect data, and by the end of 2023 had contributed data to over 7,290 scientific publications.[2]

Mission operations are conducted from the Multi-Mission Operations Center (MMOC) in Building 14 at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Wind data can be accessed using the SPEDAS software. Wind is the sister ship to GGS Polar.

  1. ^ "WIND Solar-Terrestrial Mission". ESA eoPortal. European Space Agency. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference windhome was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference nasa-25years was invoked but never defined (see the help page).