Missions

SWARM

Mission: To provide the most accurate and up-to-date survey of the geomagnetic field and its temporal evolution, in order to improve our understanding of the Earth's interior and climate, thus gaining new insight.

Launch: 2013

DTU Space's involvement: DTU Space leads the international cooperation behind the Swarm mission. Swarm consists of three satellites, which will work together to measure the Earth magnetic field. Constellation of three satellites improves the accuracy of measurements with up to ten times compared to previous, single satellites that have measured the magnetic field.

DTU Space has developed and will deliver the vector magnetometers and the star cameras to the mission. Each of the three Swarm satellites will have a scalar magnetometer, which measures the magnitude of the magnetic field, a vector magnetometer, which measures the direction of the magnetic field and a star camera, which provides the satellite's orientation in space.

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JUNO

Mission: To determine the origin and evolution of Jupiter.

The fundamental processes and conditions that governed our solar system during its formation are hidden underneath Jupiter's cloud cover.

Being our largest planet, Jupiter can also provide crucial knowledge for understanding the planetary systems of other stars.

The magnetic field investigation of the Juno mission has three goals:

1. mapping of the magnetic field;
2. determining the dynamics of Jupiter´s interior; and
3. determining the three-dimensional structure of the polar magnetosphere.

Launch: August 2011

DTU Space's involvement: DTU space provides the micro Advanced Stellar Compass (microASC) that will provide accurate pointing information for the Flux Gate Magnetometer thus enabling precise magnetic mapping of Jupiter.

The JUNO mission faces particular challenges: Firstly, the electronics onboard must be able to operate at minus 150 degrees. Secondly, Jupiter is surrounded by the most powerful radiation belts in the solar system, and therefore, the instruments must be designed so they can withstand the extreme radiation.

An additional challenge is that the star camera must be paced near the magnetometer that will measure the planet's magnetic field. In order that the magnetometer only measures Jupiter's magnetic field, the electronics in the star camera must not emit magnetic fields.

NuSTAR

The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array

Mission: To map selected regions of the sky in order to do the following:

1. take a census of collapsed stars and black holes of various sizes, by surveying regions surrounding the center of the Milky Way Galaxy and performing deep observations of the extragalactic sky;
   
2. map recently synthesized material in young supernova remnants to show how stars explode and how elements are created; and
   
3. determine what powers relativistic jets of particles from extremely active galaxies hosting supermassive black holes.

Launch: February 2012

DTU Space's involvement: Technology developed at DTU will make it possible to create a telescope that has a focus with a hundred times greater sensitivity than previously achieved in the hard end of the X-ray spectrum. The Danish researchers have developed a special type of x-ray reflective coating that makes it possible to focus on this type of radiation in a telescope with a practical and feasible focal length. NuSTAR will thus be able to test theories of how heavy elements are born, discover collapsed stars and black holes on all scales and explore the most extreme physical environments.

DTU Space also delivers the micro Advanced Stellar Compass (microASC). With its four camera head units, three placed on the S/C body and one on the extendable boom carrying the mirror assembly, the microASC will provide both general AOCS input as well as highly accurate knowledge of the relative orientation of the telescope elements.

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ASIM

Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor

Mission: To observe extreme thunderstorms, water vapor, clouds, and aerosols, and their interplay in the atmosphere, and to gain new insights into climate processes that can help improve climate models.

Launch: 2011

DTU Space's involvement: DTU Space provides the scientific management for this project, and supplies a package of instruments (six cameras, six photometers, and one X-and-gamma-ray detector), which is to be put on the International Space Station.

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JWST

James Webb Space Telescope

Mission: To study each phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, and to the evolution of our own Solar System.

Launch: 2014

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