BackForwardInstrument:  TRACE 

Instrument details
Acronym TRACE
Full name Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (instrument, same name as satellite and programme)
Purpose EUV and UV solar radiation monitoring
Short description High-resolution imaging spectrometer operating in the EUV and UV bands. 8 spectral bands: 3 in the range 17-29 nm, 5 in the range 120-250 nm, including Fe-IX at 17.1 nm, Fe-XII at 19.5 nm, Fe-XV at 28.4 nm, and H-Lyman-alpha at 121.6 nm
Background New development
Scanning Technique Sun pointing from a dawn-dusk LEO
Resolution 370 km at the Sun surface
Coverage / Cycle Full solar disk at 30 s intervals
Mass 51 kg Power Data Rate 42 kbps

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 1998 to 2010
Last update: 2017-05-19
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 imager [from L1, GEO, LEO]
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Solar EUV flux spectrum
  • Solar EUV image
  • Solar Lyman-alpha image
  • Solar UV flux spectrum
  • 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 flux spectrum*4 - fairNo specific limitation.Coarse spectral resolution, moderate dynamic range
Solar EUV image*1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Spectrometry with high spatial resolution
Solar Lyman-alpha flux2 - very highNo specific limitation.H-Ly-alpha at 121.6 nm (EUV/UV boundary)
Solar Lyman-alpha image*2 - very highNo specific limitation.H-Ly-alpha at 121.6 nm (EUV/UV boundary), high spatial resolution
Solar UV flux spectrum*3 - highNo specific limitation.Coarse spectral resolution, wide dynamic range
Solar UV image*1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Spectrometry with high spatial resolution