BackForwardInstrument:  AIA 

Instrument details
Acronym AIA
Full name Atmospheric Imaging Assembly
Purpose Solar activity monitoring by imaging in the EUV, UV and VIS bands
Short description Imaging fluxmeter with four telescopes, each with 7 channels in the EUV range 9-34 nm [including Fe-IX at 17.1 nm, Fe-XII at 19.5 nm, Fe-XV at 28.4 nm, and He-II at 30.4 nm], two in the UV range 160-170 nm, and one in VIS
Background Part of a package of instruments to monitor solar activity
Scanning Technique Sun pointing from a geosynchronous (inclined) orbit
Resolution 750 km at the Sun surface
Coverage / Cycle Full solar disk at 10 s intervals
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2010 to 2025
Last update: 2021-12-16
Detailed characteristics
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Solar and space environment monitors
  • Solar activity monitor
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 2
  • Solar magnetograph, solar EUV/X-ray imagery and EUV/X-ray irradiance, both on the Earth-Sun line and off the Earth-Sun line
  • Solar EUV spectrometer [from L1, GEO, LEO]
  • Solar EUV imager [from L1, GEO, LEO]
  • Solar UV spectrometer [from L1, GEO, LEO]
  • Solar UV imager [from L1, GEO, LEO]
  • Solar VIS spectrometer [from L1, GEO, LEO]
  • Solar VIS imager [from L1, GEO, LEO]
  • Subcomponent 3
  • UV spectral imagery (e.g. GEO, HEO, MEO, LEO)
  • EUV spectrometer [from GEO, HEO, MEO, LEO]
  • UV spectral imager [from GEO, HEO, MEO, LEO]
  • VIS spectral imager [from GEO, HEO, MEO, LEO]
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Solar EUV image
  • Solar UV image
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Solar EUV flux2 - very highNo specific limitation.Several channels, moderate dynamic range
Solar EUV image*3 - highNo specific limitation.Fluxmetry with high spatial resolution
Solar UV flux4 - fairNo specific limitation.Few channels, moderate dynamic range
Solar UV image*3 - highNo specific limitation.Fluxmetry with high spatial resolution
Solar VIS flux3 - highNo specific limitation.Wide dynamic range
Solar VIS image3 - highNo specific limitation.Fluxmetry with high spatial resolution
Solar white light image3 - highNo specific limitation.Fluxmetry with high spatial resolution, good coverage of the VIS range