Wednesday, January 14, 2004

ACE

 1997-045A


The Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) was a Delta-class Explorer mission to measure energetic particles in near-Earth interplanetary space and study the interstellar medium. It is stationed at the Earth-Sun L1 point. Goals were:

  • directly sample solar material, finding solar coronal and photospheric isotopic abundances and cosmic ray isotopic abundances.

  • Determine `anomalous cosmic ray' abundances, possibly indicating isotopic composition of the ISM.

  • Direct measurements of charge and mass fractionation during acceleration events (solar flares and interplanetary accelerations), and study acceleration timescales.

The spin-stablized spacecraft is based on the AMPTE-CCE bus and is built by APL for GSFC. The octagonal 2.5m long, 1.6m diameter, 752 kg satellite has 4 solar panels and two booms spanning 8.3m. It was launched 1997 Aug by Delta 7920-8. Principal investigator for ACE is E.Stone of CalTech. Total mass is 785 kg including 189 kg of hydrazine. 

The Delta second stage performed a retrograde burn after insertion for disposal in an orbit with short lifetime (Ted Kawamura, Boeing, private comm. 1997 Sep 9.)

ACE entered a clockwise Lissajous orbit around L1.


ACE 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1997 Aug 25 1439:00 Launch by Delta 7920  CC LC17A 
 1440  T+1:03 SRM 1-6 burnout 
 1440  T+1:05 SRM 7-9 on 
 1440  T+1:06 SRM1-3 sep 
 1440  T+1:07 SRM 4-6 sep 
 1441  T+2:08 SRM 7-9 burnout 
 1441 T+2:11 SRM 7-9 sep 
 1443  T+4:23 MECO  -2700 x 185?  
 1443  T+4:31 Stage 1 sep 
 1443  T+4:36 Stage 2 burn 1 
 1443  T+4:41 PLF sep 
 1446  T+7:33 SECO-1  185 x 185 x 28.7  
 1544 Delta burn 2 T+1:05:06 
 1548 SECO-2 alt 233 km, T+1:09:16 177 x 1281969 x 28.7  
 1553 Delta sep T+1:14:47  
 1620 Evasive burn T+1:41:27 
 1620  SECO-3 T+1:41:32 
 1627  Depletion burn T+1:48:07 
 1627  Depletion cutoff T+1:48:13 
  Delta orbit:  174 x 840904 x 28.8 (B) 
1997 Aug 26  0000  Range 87740 km  182 x 1258425 x 28.7  
 0516  Pass EL1:4 
 0533?  Delta pass EL1:4 
1997 Aug 26   MCC-1 
  MCC-2 
1997 Aug 27  0000  Range 266800 km 
1997 Sep 7   Engineering burn 
1997 Sep 13   OSM-1 
1997 Sep 14   OSM-2 
1997 Sep 15   OSM-3 
1997 Sep 16  0423?  GSEx above 1.2Mkm, enter L1 region 
1997 Sep 19   OSM-4 
1997 Sep 23   OSM-5 
1997 Sep 24   OSM-6 
1997 Sep 26?   Delta perigee, reentry? 
1997 Oct 2   Trim burn 
1997 Dec 9   HOI-1 (total HOI 115m/s) 
1997 Dec 10   HOI-2 
1997 Dec 11   HOI-3 
1997 Dec 12   HOI-4 
1997 Dec 19   HOI trim 
1998 Jan   In L1 halo orbit 
1998 Jan 15   SK-01 0.8m/s 
1998 Feb 20   SK-02 3.6m/s 
1998 Mar 25   SK-03 2.3m/s 
1998 May 1   SK-04 0.2m/s 
1998 Jun 5   SK-05 0.2m/s 
1998 Jul 21   SK-06 0.3m/s 
1998 Sep 3   SK-07 0.3m/s 
1998 Nov 11   SK-08 0.4m/s 
1999 Jan 14   SK-09 0.7m/s 
1999 Apr 9   SK-10 0.5m/s 
1999 Jul 2   SK-11 0.5m/s 

Payload:

  • Propulsion system (10 x 4.5N MR-111 Olin mono hydrazine)

  • SWIMS Solar Wind Ion Mass Spectrometer

  • SWICS SW Ion Composition Spectrometer

  • ULEIS Ultra Low Energy Isotope Spectrometer

  • SEPICA Solar Energetic Particle Ionic Charge Analyser

  • SIS Solar Isotope Spectrometer

  • CRIS Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer

  • EPAM Electron Proton and Alpha Monitor

  • SWEPAM Solar Wind Electron Proton and Alpha Monitor

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