The First Two Years of IMAGE

Burch, J. L.

The Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) mission was
launched on March 25, 2000, and full science operations began in mid-May 2000.
IMAGE performs multi-spectral imaging of the plasmas in the Earth's
magnetosphere, including far-ultraviolet imaging of precipitating protons,
extreme ultraviolet imaging of helium ions in the plasmasphere, energetic
neutral atom imaging in three energy bands covering the range from 10 eV to
500 keV, and radio sounding of total plasma densities throughout the inner
magnetosphere. The use of these techniques has led to new knowledge about the
mixture of ionospheric and solar plasmas that occurs during substorms, the
global development of proton precipitation and the partial ring current, the
substorm dynamics of the plasmasphere, and the relationships between substorms
and magnetic storms. In this paper, the first two years of IMAGE science
achievements are reviewed, and plans for future operations, which have been
approved for another 3.5 years, are outlined.

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To be presented at the Magnetospheric Imaging Workshop, 
Yosemite National Park, California, U.S.A., Feb. 5-8, 2002.