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The Global Geospace Science (GGS) WIND satellite is a NASA science spacecraft.
It was launched at 04:31:00 EST on November 1, 1994 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Merritt Island, Florida aboard a McDonnell Douglas Delta II 7925-10 rocket.
It was deployed to study radio and plasma that occur in the solar wind and in the Earth's magnetosphere before the solar wind reaches the Earth. The spacecraft's original mission was to orbit the Sun at the L1 Lagrangian point, but this was delayed when the SOHO and ACE spacecraft were sent to the same location. WIND has been at L1 continuously since 2004, and is still operating as of December 2012. WIND currently has enough fuel to last roughly 60 years at L1. WIND continues to produce relevant research.
WIND was designed and manufactured by Martin Marietta Astro Space Division in East Windsor, New Jersey. The satellite is a spin stabilized cylindrical satellite with a diameter of 2.4 m and a height of 1.8 m.
The primary science objectives of the Wind mission are:
- Provide complete plasma, energetic particle and magnetic field for magnetospheric and ionospheric studies.
- Investigate basic plasma processes occurring in the near-Earth solar wind.
- Provide baseline, 1 AU, ecliptic plane observations for inner and outer heliospheric missions.
