The newly built four spacecraft mission is now due to be launched on board two Soyuz launchers in June and July 2000. Small- scale phenomena that operate in space are largely responsible for determining the nature of the interactions at the boundaries between plasmas of different origin, as well as the larger scale properties of the different plasmas. The objective of the Cluster mission is to make measurements of phenomena on spatial scales corresponding to the proposed separation distances of the four spacecraft. This will lead not only to a much better understanding of these small-scale phenomena, but also of the role they play on larger scales, to control the properties of different regions of the magnetosphere and the upstream solar wind. Imperial College leads an international team of scientists on the Magnetic Field Investigation onboard the four Cluster spacecraft.
Magnetic fields play a key role in space plasma processes.
The accurate measurement of the magnetic field along the Cluster orbit at the location of the four spacecraft, the objective of our investigation, is a critical requirement for meeting the objectives of the mission.