ISEE-1


The International Sun-Earth Explorer 1 was a 340-kg space probe used to study magnetic fields near the Earth. ISEE-1 was a spin-stabilized spacecraft and based on the design of the prior IMP series of spacecraft. ISEE-1 and ISEE-2 were launched on October 22, 1977, and they re-entered on September 26, 1987.

Mission

The space probe was part of a program consisting of three spacecraft: a mother/daughter pair and the ISEE-3 spacecraft. The program was a cooperative mission between NASA and ESRO designed to study the interaction between the Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind. At least 32 institutions were involved, and the focus was on understanding magnetic fields. ISEE-1 and ISEE-3 were built by NASA, while ISEE-2 was built by ESA. All three had complementary instruments supported by the same group of over 100 scientists.

Orbit

ISEE-1 and ISEE-2 remained near the Earth. ISEE-3 was the first spacecraft to be placed in a halo orbit at the Earth-Sun Lagrangian points and it was later launched into a heliocentric orbit.