Geotail
Sign in to saveAlso known as Geomagnetic Tail Lab, GTL, ISTP/Geotail
Geotail was a satellite that observed the Earth's magnetosphere. It was developed by Japan's ISAS in association with the United States' NASA, and was launched by a Delta II rocket on 24 July 1992 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Wikidata facts
- Diameter
- 2.2
- Mass
- 679
- Official website
- pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/geotail.shtml
- Image
- Geotail satellite.jpg
- Height
- 1.6
Show 3 more facts
- UTC date of spacecraft launch
- 1992-07-24
- Commons category
- GEOTAIL
- service retirement
- 2022-11-28
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Article
4 sectionsContents
- Discoveries
- See also
- References
- External links
Geotail was a satellite that observed the Earth's magnetosphere. It was developed by Japan's ISAS in association with the United States' NASA, and was launched by a Delta II rocket on 24 July 1992 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The primary purpose of the mission was to study the structure and dynamics of the tail region of the magnetosphere with a comprehensive set of scientific instruments. For this purpose, the orbit has been designed to cover the magnetotail over a wide range of distances: to from the Earth. This orbit also allowed it to study the boundary region of the magnetosphere as it skims the magnetopause at perigees. In the first two years the double lunar swing-by technique was used to keep apogees in the distant magnetotail. This involved 14 lunar flybys.