Geotail
Geotail was a joint ISAS and NASA magnetospheric observatory built to examine how the solar wind shapes Earth's long magnetic tail. Its highly elliptical orbit and lunar flybys supported measurements from the distant magnetotail into the near-Earth plasma environment.
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Identity
- Aliases
- GEOTAIL
- Name
- Geotail
- Status
- completed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- Geotail was a joint ISAS and NASA magnetospheric observatory built to examine how the solar wind shapes Earth's long magnetic tail. Its highly elliptical orbit and lunar flybys supported measurements from the distant magnetotail into the near-Earth plasma environment.
- Destination
- Highly elliptical geocentric orbit reaching approximately 9 Earth radii perigee and 30 Earth radii apogee in its near-Earth phase for measurements of Earth’s magnetotail and solar-wind interaction
- End Date
- 2022-11-28
- Launch Site
- Outcome
- Geotail far exceeded its planned lifetime, operating for more than thirty years and returning a long record of magnetotail, solar-wind, and boundary-region measurements. Operations ended after the spacecraft's remaining data recorder failed.
- Programs
- Start Date
- 1992-07-24
- Vehicle Families
Links
- Official Url
- https://science.nasa.gov/mission/GEOTAIL/
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 18, 2026 at 13:35:23 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 22, 2026 at 08:02:04 UTC
- Image
- Download
Other
- Affiliations
- Search Name
- Geotail GEOTAIL
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles