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A Quarter Century of Wind Spacecraft Discoveries
  • +11
  • Lynn Bruce Wilson,
  • Alexandra Brosius,
  • Nat Gopalswamy,
  • Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla,
  • Adam Szabo,
  • Kevin C. Hurley,
  • Tai-Duc Phan,
  • Justin C. Kasper,
  • Noé Lugaz,
  • Ian G. Richardson,
  • Christopher Chen,
  • Daniel Verscharen,
  • Robert T Wicks,
  • Jason M. TenBarge
Lynn Bruce Wilson
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Alexandra Brosius
The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science
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Nat Gopalswamy
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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Teresa Nieves-Chinchilla
Goddard Space Flight Center, Goddard Space Flight Center
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Adam Szabo
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Kevin C. Hurley
University of California, University of California
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Tai-Duc Phan
UC Berkeley, UC Berkeley
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Justin C. Kasper
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
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Noé Lugaz
University of New Hampshire, University of New Hampshire
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Ian G. Richardson
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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Christopher Chen
Queen Mary University of London, Queen Mary University of London
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Daniel Verscharen
University College London, University College London
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Robert T Wicks
Department: Mathematics, Department: Mathematics
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Jason M. TenBarge
Princeton University, Princeton University
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Abstract

The Wind spacecraft is a critical element in NASA’s Heliophysics System Observatory (HSO) – a fleet of spacecraft created to understand the dynamics of the sun-Earth system – owing to the combination of its longevity (>25 years in service), its diverse compliment of instrumentation, and high resolution and accurate measurements. Wind has over 55 selectable public data products with over ~1100 total data variables (including OMNI data products) on SPDF/CDAWeb alone. These data have led to paradigm shifting results in studies of statistical solar wind trends, magnetic reconnection, large-scale solar wind structures, kinetic physics, electromagnetic turbulence, the Van Allen radiation belts, coronal mass ejection topology, interplanetary and interstellar dust, the lunar wake, solar radio bursts, solar energetic particles, and extreme astrophysical phenomena such as gamma-ray bursts. This review introduces the mission and instrument suites then discusses examples of the contributions by Wind to these scientific topics that emphasize its importance to both the fields of heliophysics and astrophysics.
Jun 2021Published in Reviews of Geophysics volume 59 issue 2. 10.1029/2020RG000714