Spacecraft and Mission Facts

For the IMI mission, an instrument complement of approximately seven imagers will fly in an elliptical polar orbit around the Earth. When it is farthest from Earth, the IMI spacecraft's altitude will be approximately 44,500 kilometers (seven Earth radii). When it is closest to Earth, its altitude will be approximately 4,800 kilometers. The spacecraft will be powered by body-mounted solar arrays and communicate its data back to Earth using NASA's Deep Space Network.

Measurement Objectives

To obtain simultaneous images of component regions of the inner magnetosphere, such as:

• The ring current and inner plasma sheet
• The plasmasphere
• The electron and proton auroras
• The geocorona

Additional Information

• Mission Scenario
• Science Objectives