Open AccessIridium satellites help map electrical currents in space
Author(s) -
Showstack Randy
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/01eo00011
Subject(s) - satellite , atmosphere (unit) , remote sensing , magnetometer , electric power , meteorology , geology , geodesy , aerospace engineering , power (physics) , environmental science , physics , engineering , magnetic field , quantum mechanics
The satellite constellation of Iridium LLC, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1999 after it failed to win enough business for its commercial satellite communications services, is still orbiting at an altitude of about 780 kilometers. Now, however, the satellites are helping to write a new chapter in understanding space weather. Magnetometers onboard each of the system's 66 polar‐orbiting satellites are working in conjunction with the high‐frequency, multinational Super Dual Auroral Radar Network, or SuperDARN, to provide the first continuous measurements of electrical currents between Earth's upper atmosphere and space. These tools also are generating the first global maps of electrical power flowing into the polar upper atmosphere.