BackForward Satellite Programme: Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration 

Programme details
Programme description
  • Single-satellite programme, addressing magnetospheric processes.  First of the NASA Medium-class Explorer programme (MIDEX).
  • USA programme: NASA responsible of development and operations, in collaboration with a wide number of scientific institutes.
  • The satellite is spin-stabilised.
  • The design lifetime is 2 years.
  • The orbit is highly elliptical, polar.
  • See detailed description at https://directory.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/i/image-mission and http://image.gsfc.nasa.gov.
Data circulation
  • Data are stored onboard and retrieved in S-band at stations of the NASA network.
  • In addition, science data are transmitted in real-time, specifically for the main user centres for space environment weather forecasts of NOAA (NGDC, National Geophysical Data Center) and Japan (CRL, Communications Research Laboratory, Tokyo).
  • Data distribution from the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).
Agencies NASA
Programme lifetime 2000 - 2005
Associated satellites and instruments

Note: red tag => no longer operational , green tag => operational , blue tag => planned