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A Quarter Century of Wind Spacecraft Discoveries
Author(s) -
Wilson Lynn B.,
Brosius Alexandra L.,
Gopalswamy Natchimuthuk,
NievesChinchilla Teresa,
Szabo Adam,
Hurley Kevin,
Phan Tai,
Kasper Justin C.,
Lugaz Noé,
Richardson Ian G.,
Chen Christopher H. K.,
Verscharen Daniel,
Wicks Robert T.,
TenBarge Jason M.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/2020rg000714
Subject(s) - physics , solar wind , coronal mass ejection , spacecraft , astronomy , observatory , solar physics , interplanetary spaceflight , aerospace engineering , heliosphere , meteorology , remote sensing , plasma , geography , quantum mechanics , engineering
The Wind spacecraft, launched on November 1, 1994, is a critical element in NASA’s Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO)—a fleet of spacecraft created to understand the dynamics of the Sun‐Earth system. The combination of its longevity (>25 years in service), its diverse complement of instrumentation, and high resolution and accurate measurements has led to it becoming the “standard candle” of solar wind measurements. Wind has over 55 selectable public data products with over ∼1,100 total data variables (including OMNI data products) on SPDF/CDAWeb alone. These data have led to paradigm shifting results in studies of statistical solar wind trends, magnetic reconnection, large‐scale solar wind structures, kinetic physics, electromagnetic turbulence, the Van Allen radiation belts, coronal mass ejection topology, interplanetary and interstellar dust, the lunar wake, solar radio bursts, solar energetic particles, and extreme astrophysical phenomena such as gamma‐ray bursts. This review introduces the mission and instrument suites then discusses examples of the contributions by Wind to these scientific topics that emphasize its importance to both the fields of heliophysics and astrophysics.