Auroral Imaging Suite (AIS)

Abstract

The Auroral Instrument Suite mission is to provide simultaneous measurements over the entire Earth's auroral region in multiple wavelengths using two satellites with identical payloads.Auroral emissions provide quantitative measures of energy and particle deposition into the Earth's ionosphere, which can result in sudden and significant changes in conductivity and largescale currents which relate to physical phenomena at lower atmospheric layers and ground level geomagnetic activity. Knowledge of such changes to the ionosphere as observed by auroral activity can provide actionable information for various agencies, institutes, and other interested parties.Satellite auroral imagers are widely recognized as essential tools for providing diagnostics of global (macro) magnetospheric activity. Most measurements today still consist of ground-based and in situ observations. These are heavily interpolated between widely spaced samples, and do not provide the necessary temporal and spatial resolution.Continuous coverage of high-latitudes and over all local times is not possible with a single spacecraft. Two properly placed spacecraft in high inclination orbits will measure all local times while providing conjugate data from the other hemisphere.