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THEMIS
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THEMIS
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THEMIS
THEMIS Workers waiting to install the second half of the fairing of the THEMIS spacecraft on Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

THEMIS

United States satellites
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Also known as: Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions During Substorms
Written by
Dave Dooling
Education and Public Outreach Officer, National Solar Observatory, Sacramento Peak, New Mexico. Coauthor of Engineering Tomorrow.
Dave Dooling
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Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions During Substorms
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THEMIS, five U.S. satellites that studied variations in the aurora. The spacecraft were launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Feb. 17, 2007. By following elliptical orbits whose orientation shifted relative to Earth, the Sun, and Earth’s radiation belts, they helped unravel the origin of disturbances in Earth’s magnetosphere, called substorms, that cause spectacular auroral displays. The mission also involved an array of ground stations. THEMIS found that substorms occur about 120,000 km (75,000 miles) from the surface of Earth when magnetic field lines break and release energy after they reconnect. The two outermost satellites were given ...(100 of 159 words)

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