Cluster After 20 Years of Operations: Science Highlights and Technical Challenges

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dc.contributor.authorEscoubet, C. P.
dc.contributor.authorMasson, A.
dc.contributor.authorLaakso, H.
dc.contributor.authorGoldstein, Melvyn
dc.contributor.authorDimbylow, T.
dc.contributor.authorBogdanova, Y. V.
dc.contributor.authorHapgood, M.
dc.contributor.authorSousa, B.
dc.contributor.authorSieg, D.
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, M. G. G. T.
dc.date.accessioned2022-08-25T14:59:15Z
dc.date.available2022-08-25T14:59:15Z
dc.date.issued2021-07-20
dc.description.abstractThe Cluster mission was the first constellation using four identical spacecraft to study Sun-Earth connection plasma processes. Using four spacecraft in a tetrahedron shape, it could measure, for the first time, 3D quantities such as electrical currents, plasma gradients or divergence of the electron pressure tensor and 3D structures such as boundaries, surface waves or vortices. Launched in pairs in July and August 2000, on two Soyuz rockets from Baikonur, the four spacecraft have been collecting data continuously for more than 20 years. The mission faced many challenges during the years of operations as some spacecraft subsystems had a lifetime of a few years beyond the initial two-year mission. The major one was to operate without functioning batteries and to successfully pass short and long eclipses, up to 3 h long, without damaging the on-board computers and transmitters and without freezing the fuel. More than 1,000 eclipses have been successfully passed since 2010 using a specially made procedure which switches off the complete spacecraft before entering into eclipse and switches it on when the Sun is again illuminating the solar panels. During 20 years, many discoveries and science results have been published in more than 2,700 scientific papers. A few highlights are presented here, focusing on how varying the spacecraft separation was essential to achieve the science goals of the mission. The Cluster Science Data System and the Cluster archive allows public access to all science data as well as spacecraft ancillary data.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipYVB's contribution is supported by the RAL Space In House Research funding and JSOC is funded through an ESA contract. We would like to acknowledge the Cluster PIs who continue to operate the instruments and keep them in very good shape despite the gradual aging of electronic components: Mats André, IRFU, Sweden (EFW); Misha Balikhin, Sheffield U., UK (DWP); Chris Carr, Imperial College, UK (FGM); Patrick Canu, LPP, France (STAFF); Patrick Daly, MPS, Germany (RAPID); Iannis Dandouras, IRAP, France (CIS); Andrew Fazakerley, MSSL (PEACE), UK; Jolene Pickett, University of Iowa, USA (WBD); Jean-Louis Rauch, LPC2E, France (WHISPER); Roy B. Torbert, University of New Hampshire, USA (EDI), Klaus Torkar, IWF, Austria (ASPOC). We thank the former PIs, Hugo Alleyne, Andre Balogh, Nicole Cornilleau-Wehrlin, Pierrette Décréau, Donald Gurnett, Georg Gustafsson, Elizabeth Lucek, Goetz Paschmann, Henri Rème and Jean-Gabriel Trotignon who have played an essential role in the success of the Cluster mission. Former ESA Project Scientist Rudi Schmidt, who successfully conducted the science preparation of Cluster I and achieved the agreement to rebuilt it, is greatly acknowledged. The four spacecraft development with short schedules and challenging technical elements would not have been possible without the fantastic lead of project managers John Credland and John Ellwood. We would like to thank Keith Yearby (Sheffield U., UK) and Ondrej Santolík (IAP, Czech Republic) for their support to WEC operations and WBD operations. We acknowledge at JSOC (RAL/STFC, UK) Anne Chadwick, Patrick Chaizy, Monica Kendall, Gerard Hutchinson, Andrew McDermott, Mila de Vere, John Rainnie and Helen Walker for the science operations and at ESOC (Germany), Beatriz Abascal Palacios, Steffen Bamfaste, Ignacio Clerigo, Ry Evill, David Heusinger, Piergiorgio Pirroni, Silvia Sangiorgi, Artur Scholz, Ishaque Suleman and Marino Zanoni for the spacecraft operations. Former spacecraft operation managers have ensured the success of Cluster since the beginning of the mission: Sandro Matussi and Juergen Volpp and former Department Heads Manfred Warhaut and Paolo Ferri. The longevity of the Cluster mission was ensured by the dedicated engineers from industry creating very robust spacecraft: Titziana Aielli, Gunther Lautenschläger, Gunther Lehn, Klaus-Dieter Mau, Roland Nord, Stefan Osipenko and Heiner Sondermann and many other industry engineers. The Cluster archive could not have been developed without the enthusiasm of Chris Perry, Sinead McCaffrey, Delphine Herment, Tomasz Klos, Cecil Tranquille, Beatriz Martinez, Hector Perez, Anastasia Andres and Helen Middleton. From the OVT team (https://ovt.irfu.se), the efforts of Yuri Khotyaintsev, Erik Johansson and Fredrik Johansson are greatly acknowledged. Finally, we should not forget the key members of the Cluster team who passed away too early and contributed immensely to the Cluster mission, Les Wooliscroft (first DWP PI), Alan Johnstone (first PEACE PI), Berend Wilken (first RAPID PI), Alain Roux (first WEC coordinator and proposer of the mission) and Willi Riedler (first ASPOC PI). Finally, we thank all the scientists and engineers who have contributed to the success of Cluster over the last few decades.en_US
dc.description.urihttps://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2021JA029474en_US
dc.format.extent18 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articlesen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2rcvn-1fso
dc.identifier.citationEscoubet, C. P., Masson, A., Laakso, H., Goldstein, M. L., Dimbylow, T., Bogdanova, Y. V., et al. (2021). Cluster after 20 years of operations: Science highlights and technical challenges. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 126, e2021JA029474. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JA029474en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1029/2021JA029474
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/25562
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherAGUen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute (GPHI)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Collection
dc.rights©2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.en_US
dc.titleCluster After 20 Years of Operations: Science Highlights and Technical Challengesen_US
dc.typeTexten_US
dcterms.creatorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5317-988Xen_US

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