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- The Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) is an Explorer mission that is being managed by the Office of Space Science Mission and Payload Development Division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary purpose of ACE is to determine and compare the isotopic and elemental composition of several distinct samples of matter, including the solar corona, the interplanetary medium, the local interstellar medium, and Galactic matter. The spacecraft is 1.6 meters across and 1 meter high, not including the four solar arrays and the magnetometer booms attached to two of the solar panels. It will weigh 785 kg, which includes 189 kg of hydrazine fuel for orbit insertion and maintenance. The solar arrays will generate about 500 watts of power at the beginning of life. The spacecraft will spin at 5 rpm, with the spin axis generally pointed along the Earth-sun line and most of the scientific instruments on the top (sunward) deck. The instruments that are carried on ACE are as follows: Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS), Electon,Proton,and Alpha Monitor (EPAM), Magnetometer (MAG), Solar Energetic Particle Ionic Charge Analyzer (SEPICA), Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS), Solar Wind Electon, Proton, and Alpha Monitor (SWEPAM), Solar Wind Ionic Charge Spectrometer (SWICS), Solar Wind Ion Mass Spectrometer (SWIMS), and Ultra Low Energy Isotope Spectrometer (ULEIS). ACE launched on a McDonnell-Douglas Delta II 7920 launch vehicle on August 25, 1997 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In order to get away from the effects of the Earth's magnetic field, the ACE spacecraft has travelled almost a million miles (1.5 million km) from the Earth to the Earth-sun libration point (L1). By orbiting the L1 point, ACE will stay in a relatively constant position with respect to the Earth as the Earth revolves around the sun. Group: Platform_Details Entry_ID: ACE Group: Platform_Identification Platform_Category: Solar/Space Observation Satellites Short_Name: ACE Long_Name: Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) End_Group Group: Synonymous_Platform_Names Short_Name: Explorer 71 Short_Name: 1997-045A Short_Name: 24912 End_Group Group: Platform_Associated_Instruments Short_Name: MAG Short_Name: SWICS Short_Name: SEPICA Short_Name: SIS Short_Name: SWEPAM Short_Name: EPAM Short_Name: SWIMS Short_Name: ULEIS Short_Name: CRIS End_Group Group: Orbit Orbit_Altitude: 1.5 million km Orbit_Inclination: 28.7 degrees Perigee: 179 km Apogee: 1256768 km Orbit_Type: LPO > L1 > Lissajous Orbit > Halo Orbit End_Group Creation_Date: 2008-01-14 Online_Resource: http://www.srl.caltech.edu/ACE/ Online_Resource: http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/ACE/ACE_FactSheet.html Sample_Image: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/spacecraft/ace1.jpg Group: Platform_Logistics Launch_Date: 1997-08-25 Launch_Site: Cape Canaveral/Kennedy Space Center, USA Primary_Sponsor: NASA Primary_Sponsor: California Institute of Technology End_Group End_Group
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