AIM

USA

Spacecraft nº:

US satellite nº:

AIM = Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere.
Also called: SMEX 9, Explorer 90

Launch data:

Designation	31304 / 07015A
Launch date	25 Apr 2007 - 20:26 UT
Launch site	Va, L-1011
Launch vehicle	Pegasus-XL(#24)
Mission	Government: Earth Science
Sun-synchronous Earth orbit on:
Perigee / Apogee	586 x 601 km
Eccentricity	1.08E-03
Inclination	97.79°
Period	96.55 min

Spacecraft data:

Prime contractor	Orbital Sciences Corp.
Operator	Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Hampton University
Platform
Mass at launch	215 kg
Dry Mass	197 kg
Basic shape
Dimension (m)
Solar array
Stabilization
DC power	216 W
Design lifetime	2 yrs

The AIM spacecraft with solar arrays in stowed configuration (image credit: NASA)

Photo of the AIM spacecraft with the solar array fully deployed (image credit OSC)

Legend to right picture: There are six separate solar array panels, which are integrated into a single deployed wing. In this orientation the nadir deck is pointed up towards the ceiling, and the SOFIE and CIPS instruments are visible in the photo. The photograph was taken in the clean room at the Orbital Sciences, Dulles, Va. facility.

Descriptions::

OSC (Orbital Sciences Corporation) of Dulles, VA, is the prime contractor to CAS/HU (Center for Atmospheric Sciences/Hampton University) for the spacecraft and payload integration. The AIM mission employs the LeoStar-2 bus of OSC, a 3-axis stabilized zero momentum platform. The spacecraft structure (hexagonal bus) has a diameter of 1.09 m and a length of 1.4 m. S/C power = 335 W (orbital average) using a fixed GaAs solar array; spacecraft mass of ~ 200 kg, design life of at least 2 years.
The spacecraft uses an aluminum honeycomb bus structure, with a deployed solar array wing canted at 50º. The solar array uses high efficiency solar cells on composite substrates, and the full array is assembled from 6 solar panel sections, and wrapped around the spacecraft (cells facing out) during launch. The panels are sequentially deployed into a flat panel and then canted away from the spacecraft body. The array provides 300 W of average power. The instruments SOFIE and CIPS are mounted to the nadir panel of the hexagonal structure, and CDE is mounted to the zenith panel. Instrument electronics for SOFIE are housed within the spacecraft body.

Mission details:

NASA's AIM [Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere] spacecraft began its two-year mission April 25, 2007 after a flawless ride to Earth orbit aboard an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket. Launch took place at 1:26 PDT. Launch operations at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California ran smoothly, with no technical or weather issues causing concern. The AIM mission is the first dedicated to exploring mysterious ice clouds that dot the edge of space in Earth's polar regions. These clouds have grown brighter and more prevalent in recent years and some scientists suggest that changes in these clouds may be the result of climate change.
NASA has launched a clue-seeking satellite to track eerily mysterious clouds at the threshold of space that some scientists believe are the harbingers of global climate change.
AIM carries three scientific instruments to study polar mesospheric clouds: a solar occultation camera, an ultraviolet imager, and a cosmic dust experiment.

External links:

NASA: Satellite description
Satellite tracking: Real time satellite tracking
EOportal.org Satellite description

Ref.: #6, #7(JR580), #12, #78a, #206, #226, #228, #242 - update: 23.08.19

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