ESA - Cluster - Archive

ESA title

The mission

Cluster was a constellation of four spacecraft investigating the interaction between the Sun and Earth’s magnetosphere in unparalleled detail. The magnetosphere is our shield against the charged gas that carries particles and magnetic fields outwards from the Sun.

Launch: 16 July and 9 August 2000
Mission end: 8 September 2024
Observed: solar wind, magnetosphere
Orbit: elliptical around Earth’s poles, a few hundred to 125 000 km altitude
Spacecraft names: Rumba, Salsa, Samba and Tango

11 instruments
4 spacecraft
2 decades of operation

Cluster

Four-satellite Cluster mission

Moving satellites to meet a plane for rare reentry data

02/02/2026 6172 views 30 likes

Cluster satellite reenters Earth's atmosphere

Science & Exploration

Goodnight, Cluster: brilliant end to trailblazing mission

09/09/2024 12205 views 54 likes

Cluster satellite reentering Earth's atmosphere

Watching Salsa’s reentry live from the sky

26/08/2024 7652 views 31 likes

Cluster satellite reentering Earth's atmosphere

Science & Exploration

Cluster mission set to end with reentry over South Pacific

22/08/2024 7085 views 46 likes

Four-satellite Cluster mission

Enabling & Support

Salsa’s last dance targets reentry over South Pacific

26/01/2024 5056 views 36 likes

Auroral beads

Science & Exploration

Magnetic vortices explain mysterious auroral beads

02/06/2022 4028 views 66 likes

Earth's protective shield

Swarm and Cluster get to the bottom of geomagnetic storms

15/12/2021 7538 views 118 likes

Four-satellite Cluster mission

Science & Exploration

Cluster’s 20 years of studying Earth’s magnetosphere

07/08/2020 8827 views 73 likes

Four-satellite Cluster mission

Science & Exploration

Windy with a chance of magnetic storms – space weather scie…

08/11/2018 3714 views 60 likes

Four-satellite Cluster mission

Enabling & Support

Rejigging the Cluster quartet

16/01/2015 6774 views 78 likes

Science & Exploration

Origin of high-latitude auroras revealed

18/12/2014 17456 views 79 likes

Cluster II

Enabling & Support

ESA’s Cluster satellites in closest-ever ‘dance in space’

20/09/2013 8894 views 76 likes

Aurora over Norway

Science & Exploration

From solar activity to stunning aurora

15/04/2013 7217 views 37 likes

Tiny turbulent swirls in the solar wind

Science & Exploration

The solar wind is swirly

18/12/2012 15694 views 36 likes

Solar wind entry at low latitudes

Science & Exploration

Earth’s magnetosphere behaves like a sieve

24/10/2012 6937 views 21 likes

Propagation of a solar wind stream

Science & Exploration

Earth’s magnetic field provides vital protection

08/03/2012 79206 views 127 likes

Astrophysical shocks are a diverse collection

Science & Exploration

Cosmic particle accelerators get things going

16/11/2011 6028 views 5 likes

Cluster satellites study the effects of solar wind

Enabling & Support

'Dirty hack' restores Cluster mission from near loss

30/06/2011 5117 views 15 likes

Cluster path through aurora region

Science & Exploration

Cluster encounters a natural particle accelerator

01/02/2011 3454 views 3 likes

Ceremony for the International Academy of Astronautics Laurels 2010

Science & Exploration

Laurels for Cluster-Double Star teams

28/09/2010 2823 views 2 likes

Cluster pair in Soyuz on launch pad, Baikonur, 12 July 2000

Enabling & Support

Ten years flying in formation: The legendary Cluster quartet

01/09/2010 2720 views 3 likes

The Cluster quartet

Science & Exploration

Cluster turns the invisible into the visible

01/09/2010 2282 views 3 likes

The Sun-Earth connection

Enabling & Support

ESA’s pioneering Cluster mission is celebrating its 10th an…

25/08/2010 982 views 0 likes

Four-satellite Cluster mission

Science & Exploration

Cluster's science objectives

16/07/2010 1514 views 4 likes

The four Cluster spacecraft

Cluster's decade of discovery

16/07/2010 3649 views 2 likes

Science & Exploration

Shocking recipe for making killer electrons

11/03/2010 2503 views 1 likes

Cluster II

Enabling & Support

Teamwork, skill enable quick Cluster recovery

19/02/2010 1730 views 3 likes

Looking at Jupiter to understand Earth

Science & Exploration

Cluster and Double Star: bringing the Sun-Earth connection …

18/06/2009 1834 views 1 likes

Mars Express

Science & Exploration

ESA extends missions studying Mars, Venus and Earth’s magne…

10/02/2009 2894 views 0 likes

Earth's oxygen escaping from Earth's polar regions

Science & Exploration

Cluster watches Earth’s leaky atmosphere

28/08/2008 4629 views 4 likes

Cluster II

Science & Exploration

Cluster listens to the sounds of Earth

27/06/2008 3246 views 5 likes

The Cluster quartet

Science & Exploration

Solitary waves in translation

07/03/2008 2220 views 3 likes

Cluster observing the electron diffusion region

Science & Exploration

New discovery on magnetic reconnection to impact future spa…

23/01/2008 2673 views 1 likes

Schematic of Earth’s night-side magnetosphere

Science & Exploration

High-speed beams of charged particles accelerate towards Ea…

06/12/2007 5061 views 7 likes

CME observed by SOHO

Science & Exploration

Solar outburst pulls a magnetic slingshot

21/11/2007 2069 views 1 likes

Artist's impression of the four Cluster spacecraft

Science & Exploration

Cluster monitors convection cells over the polar caps

22/10/2007 1846 views 0 likes

Cluster and other spacecraft

Science & Exploration

Cluster and Double Star uncover more on bright aurorae

10/09/2007 1519 views 0 likes

The Sun-Earth connection

Science & Exploration

Killer electrons in space are now less mysterious

26/07/2007 2657 views 0 likes

Cluster II

Science & Exploration

Pioneering 3D view of near-Earth magnetic 'dance'

29/06/2007 1788 views 1 likes

Cluster II

Science & Exploration

Cluster: ESA spacecraft flying closer than ever for better …

21/06/2007 1567 views 0 likes

Cluster II

Cluster achieves closest-ever separation for two ESA spacec…

20/06/2007 1916 views 0 likes

Bow shock around a star

Science & Exploration

Cluster makes a shocking discovery

14/05/2007 2129 views 0 likes

Aurora before and during a substorm

Science & Exploration

Cluster sees tsunamis in space

12/04/2007 1465 views 0 likes

Solar ‘magnetic carpet’

Science & Exploration

Magnetic fields get reconnected in turbulent plasma too, Cl…

27/03/2007 2542 views 1 likes

Magnetic reconnection observed by Cluster

Science & Exploration

Cluster opens a new window on ‘magnetic reconnection’ in th…

12/03/2007 1793 views 0 likes

Auroral arcs

Science & Exploration

Cluster – new insights into the electric circuits of polar …

09/02/2007 2417 views 1 likes

Cut-away view of Earth’s magnetosphere

Science & Exploration

Magnetic whirlpools feed Earth’s magnetosphere

06/12/2006 3355 views 2 likes

Cluster 2, Artist's view

Enabling & Support

Cluster muscles back from deep hibernation

06/10/2006 1456 views 2 likes

Cluster and Double Star orbits on 8 May 2004

Science & Exploration

Details of solar particles penetrating the Earth’s environm…

03/10/2006 4551 views 3 likes

Aurorae over Canada

Science & Exploration

ESA’s Cluster mission establishes why Earth’s aurorae shine

24/08/2006 1666 views 2 likes

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