ESA Science & Technology - News Archive
News archive
News archive
Scientists have discovered a long-sought piece in the puzzle of where high-energy particles in Earth's magnetosphere come from. Using data from ESA's Cluster mission, they found that magnetic reconnection can accelerate electrons to very high energies, as long as reconnection happens at a variable pace rather than steadily.
Published: 18 July 2013
A steady wind, discovered by ESA's Cluster mission, is slowly escaping from Earth's plasmasphere - the torus of plasma that surrounds our planet's atmosphere. The outflow amounts to almost 90 tonnes a day. Predicted by theory two decades ago, this is one of the main mechanisms that replenishes Earth's magnetosphere with fresh plasma.
Published: 2 July 2013
For the first time, scientists have resolved the detailed structure of the core region where magnetic reconnection takes place in the magnetosphere of Earth using unprecedented wave measurements. The study, based on data from ESA's Cluster mission, has mapped different types of electrostatic waves in this region. The waves trace populations of...
Published: 2 May 2013
A new study has revealed that bursty bulk flows - fast streams of plasma launched towards Earth during magnetic substorms - are more important than previously thought and can carry one third of the total energy that brightens aurorae.
Published: 10 April 2013
A long-standing puzzle of solar physics is that the solar wind is hotter than it should be. A new study of data obtained by ESA's Cluster spacecraft may help to explain this mystery.
Published: 18 December 2012
A new study based on data from ESA's Cluster mission shows that it is easier for the solar wind to penetrate Earth's magnetosphere than had previously been thought.
Published: 24 October 2012
Scientists have detected and characterised lower hybrid drift waves - plasma waves that develop in thin boundaries and play an important role in energy transfer between plasma layers in the magnetosphere.
Published: 1 August 2012
[05/06/2012]
Cluster observations may have solved the long-standing debate on the origin of highly energetic particles in the cusps of Earth's magnetosphere.
Cluster observations may have solved the long-standing debate on the origin of highly energetic particles in the cusps of Earth's magnetosphere.
Published: 5 June 2012
[07/03/2012]
Findings from a new study, using data from Cluster and Mars Express, reaffirm the importance of the Earth's magnetic field in protecting our atmosphere from the solar wind.
Findings from a new study, using data from Cluster and Mars Express, reaffirm the importance of the Earth's magnetic field in protecting our atmosphere from the solar wind.
Published: 7 March 2012
[16/11/2011]
A new study has revealed the narrow width of Earth's bow shock - only 17 kilometres across - and sheds new light on particle injection mechanisms in cosmic accelerators.
A new study has revealed the narrow width of Earth's bow shock - only 17 kilometres across - and sheds new light on particle injection mechanisms in cosmic accelerators.
Published: 16 November 2011
[06/09/2011]
Bright auroral displays are caused by a phenomenon known as a geomagnetic substorm, but the origin of these substorms has been debated for decades. New computer simulations, allied to analysis of data from ESA's Cluster spacecraft, are now filling in many of the missing pieces in the puzzle.
Bright auroral displays are caused by a phenomenon known as a geomagnetic substorm, but the origin of these substorms has been debated for decades. New computer simulations, allied to analysis of data from ESA's Cluster spacecraft, are now filling in many of the missing pieces in the puzzle.
Published: 6 September 2011
[04/07/2011]
New insights into the processes that modify high speed plasma flows, or jets, have been provided by rare in situ measurements of these streams of ionised particles, made by the four Cluster spacecraft.
New insights into the processes that modify high speed plasma flows, or jets, have been provided by rare in situ measurements of these streams of ionised particles, made by the four Cluster spacecraft.
Published: 4 July 2011
[01/02/2011]
Cluster is providing new insights into the processes that generate Earth's auroras (and those of other planets). Flying in formation above the planet's poles, the spacecraft are gathering the first multi-point observations of auroral nurseries.
Cluster is providing new insights into the processes that generate Earth's auroras (and those of other planets). Flying in formation above the planet's poles, the spacecraft are gathering the first multi-point observations of auroral nurseries.
Published: 1 February 2011
[07/01/2011]
European scientists have used observations from ESA's Cluster and Venus Express spacecraft to improve models of the interaction of Earth and Venus with the solar wind. This has implications for understanding the effects of charged particles on orbiting spacecraft.
European scientists have used observations from ESA's Cluster and Venus Express spacecraft to improve models of the interaction of Earth and Venus with the solar wind. This has implications for understanding the effects of charged particles on orbiting spacecraft.
Published: 7 January 2011
The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) has decided to award The Laurels for Team Achievement Award to the Double Star/Cluster Team. The official ceremony took place in Prague, Czech Republic, on 26 September, in the margin of the International Astronautical Congress.
Published: 4 October 2010
[06/09/2010]
In the summer of 2000, four identical ESA spacecraft lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome at the start of the most detailed investigation ever of the interaction between the Sun and Earth. 10 years later, the Cluster quartet continues to unravel the secrets of invisible particles and magnetic fields that envelop our planet
In the summer of 2000, four identical ESA spacecraft lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome at the start of the most detailed investigation ever of the interaction between the Sun and Earth. 10 years later, the Cluster quartet continues to unravel the secrets of invisible particles and magnetic fields that envelop our planet
Published: 6 September 2010
[26/07/2010]
Researchers using the four spacecraft of ESA's Cluster mission have uncovered the long journey that energetic ions undergo during geomagnetic storms and how they ultimately precipitate into the Earth's atmosphere.
Researchers using the four spacecraft of ESA's Cluster mission have uncovered the long journey that energetic ions undergo during geomagnetic storms and how they ultimately precipitate into the Earth's atmosphere.
Published: 26 July 2010
This Announcement of Opportunity solicits special operation proposals for participation in the Guest Investigator (GI) Programme of the Cluster extended mission from the European Space Agency (ESA). The aim of the GI Programme is to open future spacecraft science operations to the scientific community. Investigations are solicited which identify...
Published: 8 July 2010
More than 1000 scientists are now registered to access the Cluster Active Archive (CAA), the online database of the Cluster mission. On average, the amount of data downloaded every month by these scientists exceeds 1 Terabyte.
Published: 3 June 2010
[23.04.2010]
For more than a decade, mysterious, high-speed plasma jets have been observed in space, downstream of the Earth's bow shock. The underlying formation mechanism for these jets has now been unveiled, thanks to data collected by the four ESA Cluster satellites.
For more than a decade, mysterious, high-speed plasma jets have been observed in space, downstream of the Earth's bow shock. The underlying formation mechanism for these jets has now been unveiled, thanks to data collected by the four ESA Cluster satellites.
Published: 23 April 2010
—
20 Items per Page