Freja is a joint Swedish and German satellite, launched on October 6, 1992 and orbiting at 600--1750 km, covering the lower part of the auroral acceleration region. It has been designed to provide high-resolution measurements (both temporal and spatial) of auroral plasma characteristics. The high telemetry rate, together with the 15 Mbyte distributed on-board memories allow Freja to resolve meso and micro-scale phenomena in the 100 m range for particles and 1--10 m range for electric and magnetic fields. The UV imager resolves auroral structures of 1 km size at a time resolution of one image every 6 s. The novel plasma instruments are orders of magnitude better than any that have gone before. The Freja Mission is about the scientific objectives, instruments and platform itself. Detailed descriptions are given of the instrumentation and the first data acquired. It is one of the very few books to contain such material in a single volume, relating the instruments' design with their in-flight characteristics. For space engineers and other researchers interested in space science.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 102. Space plasma measurements are conducted in a hostile, remote environment. The art and science of measurements gathered in space depend therefore on unique instrument designs and fabrication methods to an extent perhaps unprecedented in experimental physics. In-situ measurement of space plasmas constitutes an expensive, unforgiving, and highly visible form of scientific endeavor.

This book is about spaceborne missions and instruments. In addition, surveys of airborne missions and of campaigns can be found on the accompanying CD-ROM in pdf-format. Compared with the 3rd edition the spaceborne part grew from about 300 to 1000 pages. The complete text - including the electronic-only chapters - contains more than 1900 pages. New chapters treat the history of Earth observation and university missions. The number of commercial Earth imaging missions has grown significantly. A chapter contains reference data and definitions. Extensive appendices provide a comprehensive glossary, acronyms and abbreviations and an index of sensors. An effort has been made to present the information in context, to point out relationships and interconnections. The book may serve as a reference and guide to all involved in the various national and international space programs: researchers and managers, service providers and data users, teachers and students.

Space weather is one of the most significant natural hazards to human life and health. Conditions of the sun and in the solar wind, magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere can influence the performance and reliability of space-borne and ground-based technological systems. If conditions in the space environment are adverse, they can cause disruption of satellite operations, communications, navigation, and electric power distribution grids, leading to a variety of socioeconomic losses. This book provides an overview of our current knowledge and theoretical understanding of space weather formation and covers all major topics of this phenomena, from the sun to the Earth’s ionosphere and thermosphere, thus providing a fully updated review of this rapidly advancing field. The book brings together an outstanding team of internationally recognised contributors to cover topics such as solar wind, the earth's magnetic field, radiation belts, the aurora, spacecraft charging, orbital drag and GPS.

This book tells the inside story of Germany's first contributions to space research by experiments with artificial plasma clouds in space. In this autobiography, Gerhard Haerendel, former director at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, describes his 60 adventurous years in space research. The narrative of exciting events—covering 40 years of rocket and satellite work–is underpinned with accessible accounts of the actual physical phenomena and processes involved. The reader also learns about how the goals set by a visionary astrophysicist eventually led to one of Germany's first major contributions to space research by the creation of artificial comets in the solar wind. Haerendel's efforts also led to two further satellite programs, one in partnership with Sweden, focusing on the aurora borealis, the other, a national German endeavor, to explore the outer border of the magnetosphere. A further interesting chapter concerns his engagement in the evaluation and restructuring of eastern German Academy institutes after reunification. All readers interested in space research and its history will enjoy sharing the fascinating experiences and dramatic events that accompany the story throughout, even some spectacular failures relating to rocket campaigns.