The interstellar boundary explorer (IBEX): Update at the end of phase B

Journal Article · Tue Sep 26 04:00:00 EDT 2006 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2359334· OSTI ID:20888294

McComas, D J; Allegrini, F; Pope, S; Scherrer, J ^[1]; Bartolone, L; Knappenberger, P ^[2]; Bochsler, P; Wurz, P ^[3]; Bzowski, M ^[4]; Collier, M; Moore, T ^[5]; Fahr, H ^[6]; Fichtner, H ^[7]; Frisch, P ^[8]; Funsten, H ^[9]; Fuselier, Steve ^[10]; Gloeckler, G ^[11]; Gruntman, M ^[12]; Izmodenov, V ^[13]; Lee, M ^[14]

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1. Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228 (United States)
2. Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, 1300 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605 (United States)
3. University of Bern, Physikalisches Institut, Sidlerstr. 5, Bern, CH-3012 (Switzerland)
4. Polish Academy of Sciences, Space Research Centre, Bartycka 18 A, 00-716, Warsaw (Poland)
5. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 692, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
6. University of Bonn, Auf dem Hugel 71, D-53121, Bonn (Germany)
7. Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Lehrstuhl IV: Weltraum-und-Astrophysic, D-44780, Bochum (Germany)
8. University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)
9. Los Alamos National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States)
10. Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, 3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304 (United States)
11. University of Maryland, Department of Physics, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)
12. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089 (United States)
13. Moscow State University, Vorob'evy Gory, Glavnoe Zdanie MGU, 119899 Moscow (Russian Federation)
14. University of New Hampshire, Space Science Center, Morse Hall, Durham, NH 03824 (United States)

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission will make the first global observations of the heliosphere's interaction with the interstellar medium. IBEX achieves these breakthrough observations by traveling outside of the Earth's magnetosphere in a highly elliptical orbit and taking global Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENA) images over energies from {approx}10 eV to 6 keV. IBEX's high-apogee ({approx}50 RE) orbit enables heliospheric ENA measurements by providing viewing from far above the Earth's relatively bright magnetospheric ENA emissions. This high energy orbit is achieved from a Pegasus XL launch vehicle by adding the propulsion from an IBEX-supplied solid rocket motor and the spacecraft's hydrazine propulsion system. IBEX carries two very large-aperture, single-pixel ENA cameras that view perpendicular to the spacecraft's Sun-pointed spin axis. Each six months, the continuous spinning of the spacecraft and periodic re-pointing to maintain the sun-pointing spin axis naturally lead to global, all-sky images. Over the course of our NASA Phase B program, the IBEX team optimized the designs of all subsystems. In this paper we summarize several significant advances in both IBEX sensors, our expected signal to noise (and background), and our groundbreaking approach to achieve a very high-altitude orbit from a Pegasus launch vehicle for the first time. IBEX is in full scale development and on track for launch in June of 2008.

• OSTI ID: 20888294
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 858; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CAMERAS
EARTH MAGNETOSPHERE
EV RANGE
HELIOSPHERE
HYDRAZINE
IMAGES
KEV RANGE 01-10
NASA
ORBITS
PARTICLE TRACKS
PERIODICITY
PROPULSION
PROPULSION SYSTEMS
ROCKETS
SIGNALS
SOLAR WIND
SPACE VEHICLES
SPIN