THEMIS Science Objectives and Mission Phases

The five THEMIS spacecraft and a dedicated ground-based observatory array will pinpoint when and where substorms occur, thereby providing the observations needed to identify the processes that cause substorms to suddenly release solar wind energy stored within the Earth’s magnetotail. The primary science which drove the mission design enables unprecedented observations relevant to magnetospheric research areas ranging from the foreshock to the Earth’s radiation belts. This paper describes how THEMIS will reach closure on its baseline scientific objectives as a function of mission phase.