BackForwardInstrument:  SMEI 

Instrument details
Acronym SMEI
Full name Solar Mass Ejection Imager
Purpose Space weather: imagery of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)
Short description Assemblage of three wide-angle CCD cameras each of which has a fan-beam field of view of size 3º x 60º. Spectral range: 450-1100 nm
Background Consolidated technology
Scanning Technique Scanning the interplanetary space from a dawn-dusk LEO. CCD detectors
Resolution 1°
Coverage / Cycle Interplanetary space in the 100 min orbital period
Mass 35 kg Power Data Rate 64 kbps

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2003 to 2011
Last update: 2021-09-29
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
  • Space radiometer or spectrometer
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 2
  • Solar coronagraph and heliospheric imagery both on the Earth-Sun line and off the Earth-Sun line (e.g. L5 point)
  • Heliospheric imager [from solar orbit, ecliptic, L5]
Mission objectives
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
Heliospheric image2 - very highNo specific limitation.Interplanetary space viewing in the VIS band (400-700 nm)