The Thermosphere • Ionosphere • Mesosphere ' Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) spacecraft being developed by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is the first mission in NASA's Solar Connections program. TIMED is a low-cost mission aimed at providing a basic understanding of the least explored and least understood region of the earth's environment, the atmospheric band extending from 60 to 180 kilometers in altitude.The TIMED suite of instruments is intended to determine the temperature, density, and wind structure in the Mesosphere, Lower Thermosphere and Ionosphere (MLTI) region including seasonal and latitudinal variations. TIMED is also intended to determine the relative importance of radiative, chemical, electrodynamic, and dynamic sources and sinks of energy for the thermal structure of the MLTL This paper provides an overview of the TIMED mission, discussing science objectives, mission architecture, spacecraft and ground system design, and the decoupled mission operations concept. The focus of this discussion will be on cost reduction efforts, especially those related to advanced technology. This paper also provides a brief introduction to the four TIMED instruments (GUVI, SABER, SEE, and TIDI) and develops a context for understanding their common design elements.
The Thermosphere•Ionosphere•Mesosphere•Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) program is developed by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) for NASA as NASA's first Solar Terrestrial Probe mission in the Solar Connections program. It was successfully launched into its desired orbit on December, 7, 2001 and started its prime science mission in January 2002. TIMED employs four remote sensing instruments designed to provide measurements needed to characterize the temperature, density, and wind structures of the Earth's atmosphere extending from 60 to 180 kilometers and to understand the processes controlling the region's energy balance. TIMED is a low-cost mission and its spacecraft was designed with a high degree of autonomy to enable inexpensive Mission Operations using a relatively small Mission Operations Team. The keys to enabling this cost savings are the decoupled instrument operations approach based on real-time GPS navigation and eventbased instrument commanding on board the spacecraft. This paper provides an overview of the TIMED mission, mission architecture, spacecraft and ground system design. The focus of this discussion will be on cost reduction efforts, especially those related to advanced technology and the enabling concept of decoupled mission operations.
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