The Global Geospace Mission

Synopsis

WIND, the first of two spacecraft, was launched successfully on November 1, 1994; the second, POLAR, is scheduled for launch in December 1995 as part of the International Solar Terrestrial Program. The articles in this volume describe the mission, the instruments and the ground system associated with these two spacecraft. It is hoped that the International Solar Terrestrial Program will make major advances in understanding how the solar wind interacts with the Earth's magnetosphere. Details of the instruments selected for flight, the spacecraft and the orbits are detailed in order to aid the understanding of magnetospheric physics.