LEO
Heliophysics
AIM
Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere
FACTS AT A GLANCE
Mission Description
The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission is focused on the study of Polar Mesospheric
Clouds (PMCs) that form about 50 miles above the Earth’s surface in the summer months, primarily
in the polar regions. The AIM observatory will measure PMCs and the thermal, chemical and dynamic
environment in which they form in order to determine the connection between PMCs and the
meteorology of the polar mesosphere. This connection is valuable because the increased appearance
of noctilucent, or night shining clouds (NLCs), which are a manifestation of PMCs, has been suggested
as an indicator of global climate change. Through these measurements the team will address questions
including:
• Why do noctilucent clouds form and vary?
• Why have noctilucent clouds been occurring closer to the equator?
• Why have noctilucent clouds been getting brighter and denser?
• Are noctilucent clouds nature’s harbinger of global change in the upper atmosphere?
Orbital Sciences Corporation, under contract to a university team led by Hampton University, provided
the AIM spacecraft bus, instrument integration, satellite environmental test campaign and launch
operations.
Noctilucent Clouds
First sighted in 1885 in Northern high latitudes, noctilucent, or night shining clouds occur in the summer
in the mesosphere, which is the coldest part of the atmosphere. Cloud formation is possibly hastened
by increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. While CO2 is thought to contribute to
global warming on Earth, it actually cools the high atmosphere. In recent years, noctilucent clouds have
begun appearing closer to the equator.
Noctilucent or "night-shining" clouds
were rst seen in 1885 about two years
after the powerful eruption of Krakatoa
in Indonesia, which hurled plumes of
ash high into Earth's atmosphere.
Crews aboard the International Space
Station routinely witness noctilucent
clouds when ying over Australia and
the tip of South America.
Mission:
NASA Small Explorers (SMEX) program
Customer:
Hampton University
University of Colorado at Boulder, LASP
AIM in Orbital’s Dulles, Virginia satellite
manufacturing facility
AIM
Specications
Spacecraft
Mass: 199 kg (441 lb.)
Solar Arrays: Fixed, GaAs
Power: 335 W (Orbit Average)
Communications: S-band via NASA’s Space/Ground Network and
TDRSS
Stabilization: 3-axis, zero momentum
Orbit: 600 km, sun-synchronous, 97.8
º
inclination
Mission Life: 26 months
Status: Baseline mission complete, currently in extended
mission operations
Launch
Launch Vehicle: Pegasus
®
XL
Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Date: April 25, 2007
Instruments
Solar Occultation for Ice Experiment (SOFIE)
An eight-channel differential absorption radiometer that will measure the vertical
distribution of PMCs, particle sizes, and the thermal and chemical environment of
the clouds
Cloud Imaging and Particle Size (CIPS)
Will image the horizontal distribution of PMCs and the sizes of particles within them
Cosmic Dust Experiment (CDE)
Will detect cosmic dust particles entering the atmosphere that possibly lead to
cloud formation
Mission Partners
Hampton University Center for Atmospheric
Sciences (Hampton, Virginia)
Principal Investigator: James M. Russell III, Co-Director,
Center for Atmospheric Sciences; Mission and science
team management
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Deputy Principal Investigator: Dr. Scott M. Bailey; Assist
mission and science team management
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Mission operations, instrument development and data
analysis
Space Dynamics Laboratory
(Utah State University, Logan, Utah)
Instrument development and data analysis
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Spacecraft bus development; satellite integration and test;
launch vehicle integration and ight operations support;
and Pegasus launch vehicle
GATS Inc (Newport News, Virginia)
Ground data system management and data analysis
George Mason University, Naval Research
Laboratory, St. Cloud State University, British
Antarctic Survey
Science and measurement objectives
Pegasus Launch Vehicle
Orbital’s Pegasus launch vehicle is an air-launched, internally guided, three-stage
solid rocket capable of launching up to 1,000 pounds to low-Earth orbit (LEO).
Pegasus is mated to its L-1011 carrier aircraft and dropped at approximately
40,000 feet. The vehicle free falls for approximately ve seconds, with its delta
wing providing lift, before ring its rst stage rocket motor. The duration of a typical
ight, from drop to insertion into orbit is a little over ten minutes. Pegasus has
conducted 42 missions, launching 82 satellites from six separate sites worldwide.
Orbital Sciences Corporation
45101 Warp Drive
©2014 Orbital Sciences Corporation FS003_03_2998
•
Dulles, Virginia 20166
•
www.orbital.com
Noctilucent cloud image taken over Kustavi, Finland.
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