ENA imaging of the inner magnetosphere  

P.C. Brandt, D.G. Mitchell, E.C. Roelof, and R. Delmajistre


To date there are two terrestrial missions carrying Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA)
cameras that are able to image the global ring current and plasmasheet in the
10-200 keV range with a 5-10 min time resolution. IMAGE was launched in 2000 and
Double Star (TC-2) was launched in 2004. The IMAGE mission has given us
unprecedented insight in the global dynamics of both the plasmasheet and ring
current. We review highlights of the results including storm and substorm
dynamics and global effects of magnetosphere-ionosphere (MI) coupling. Shortly
the NASA TWINS mission will be launched with two ENA imagers on each satellite
capable of imaging in the 1-50 keV range, providing the scientific community
with a third and fourth vantage point. Having several vantage points enables
higher certainty in inverting ENA images to ring current ion distributions. The
basic techniques, results and future developments of inversion methods are
reviewed.

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Presentation, 2nd Annual Asia Oceanic Geosciences Society Meeting, Singapore 
20-24 June 2005