Image Mission

IMAGE (Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration) is the first NASA MIDEX mission and the first mission dedicated to imaging the Earth's magnetosphere. It will obtain the first global images of the plasmas that populate the Earth's inner magnetosphere, using new techniques of neutral atom imaging, ultraviolet imaging, and radio sounding. With these images, space scientists will be able to observe, in a way never before possible, the large-scale dynamics of the magnetosphere as its constituent plasma regimes respond to solar-wind-induced variations. Written for both experimentalists and theorists in the field of magnetospheric physics, this volume offers detailed descriptions of the imaging instruments on board the IMAGE spacecraft and of the innovative modelling and image inversion techniques that will be employed in the interpretation of the data. Also included are chapters on the IMAGE science objectives, the spacecraft design and capabilities, science and mission operations, and the processing and distribution of IMAGE's nonproprietary data products.This text is a publicly available resource providing complete and authoritative documentation of the IMAGE instrumentation and science investigation. Short Text (Abstract): IMAGE (Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration) is the first NASA MIDEX mission and the first mission dedicated to imaging the Earth's magnetosphere. This volume offers detailed descriptions of the IMAGE instrumentation and of the image inversion techniques used to interpret the data. Also included are chapters on the IMAGE science objectives, the spacecraft design and capabilities, science and mission operations, and the processing and distribution of IMAGE's nonproprietary data products.