"'FIRST LIGHT' FROM THE IMAGE SPACECRAFT"
The Imager for Magnetosphere-to-Aurora Global Exploration
(IMAGE) is the
first mission dedicated to imaging the Earth's magnetosphere.
It uses new
ultraviolet, neutral atom, and radio plasma imaging techniques
to image
plasmas and energetic particles throughout the inner
magnetosphere at time
scales of a few minutes, which allows it to track the
global development of
geomagnetic storms. Early results of the mission include
the confirmation
of the theory of plasmaspheric tails, the discovery
of neutral atoms from
the solar wind, observation of the interaction between
the cold plasma of
the plasmasphere and the energetic ions of the ring current,
and the first
measurement of the global dynamics of the proton aurora.
In addition it has
demonstrated for the first time the remote radio sounding
of plasmas in the
magnetosphere.