A NASA satellite constellation you may not have heard of, MMS, has been doing good work. Here’s a video. It’s been studying fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field.

https://youtu.be/e6fe6yiUTRY

The defunct NASA satellite IMAGE took images in extreme UV of the Earth’s auroras and associated plasmoshere before it died.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-s-newly-rediscovered-image-mission-provided-key-aurora-research

Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) is a mission observing the outermost layers of the Earth’s atmosphere. On January 31, 2017, the SABER (Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) team members gathered to acknowledge and celebrate 15 years of atmospheric discovery on TIMED. For info on instruments, scroll down near the bottom of this link. Like IMAGE, it observes the Earth in far UV.

https://eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/content/-/article/timed

Parker Solar Probe will travel through the Sun’s atmosphere. Launch Window: July 31 – Aug. 19, 2018.

spacecraft and instruments will be protected from the Sun’s heat by a thick carbon-composite shield, which will need to withstand temperatures outside the spacecraft that reach nearly 1,370 C.

7 flybys of the Sun. Getting closer and closer.

Instruments.

There are five scientific investigations for Parker Solar Probe. They are:

Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) Investigation. This is our investigation and you can learn about it by exploring these web pages. The purpose of SWEAP is to scoop up samples of the atmosphere of the Sun during each of the encounters. SWEAP measures the detailed properties of electrons, protons, and helium ions, the main components of the corona and solar wind. Principal Investigator: Justin C. Kasper, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass.

The Fields Experiment. FIELDS will make direct measurements of electric and magnetic fields, radio emissions, and shock waves that course through the sun’s atmospheric plasma. The experiment also serves as a giant dust detector, registering voltage signatures when specks of space dust hit the spacecraft’s antenna. Principal Investigator: Stuart Bale, University of California Space Sciences Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif.

Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun. This investigation consists of two instruments that will monitor electrons, protons and ions that are accelerated to high energies in the sun’s atmosphere. Principal Investigator: David McComas of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

The Wide-field Imager, a telescope that will make 3-D images of the sun’s corona, or atmosphere. The experiment actually will see the solar wind and provide 3-D images of clouds and shocks as they approach and pass the spacecraft. This investigation complements instruments on the spacecraft providing direct measurements by imaging the plasma the other instruments sample. Principal Investigator: Russell Howard, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington

Heliospheric Origins with Solar Probe Plus. Principal Investigator: Marco Velli, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is the mission’s observatory scientist, responsible for serving as a senior scientist on the science working group. He will provide an independent assessment of scientific performance and act as a community advocate for the mission

From https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/sweap/about_spacecraft.html

Of course, we all look excitedly forward the the first pictures from the wide field imager, due later this year.

A must-watch video is here. Find out for example, why one of the most exciting possible results from the wide field imager would be to see nothing.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BLoquZFxPEE