Trattner K J, LaBelle J, Santolik O, Kletzing C A, Miles D M, Fuselier S A, Bonnell J W, Bounds S R, Kolmasova I, Petrinec S M, Sawyer R P, Vines S K, Moser-Gauthier C, Cairns I H, Yeoman T K
LASP, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO USA.
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH USA.
Space Sci Rev. 2025;221(4):52. doi: 10.1007/s11214-025-01178-2. Epub 2025 Jun 11.
On the morning of December 8, 2018, two sounding rockets were launched into the northern hemisphere cusp region to investigate the spatial and temporal nature of cusp structures. The two rockets, designated Twin Rockets to Investigate Cusp Electrodynamics 2 (TRICE-2), consisted of a high- and a low-flyer rocket launched two minutes apart. The TRICE-2 mission was a pathfinder for the upcoming Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) mission and carried almost identical payloads to those proposed for the twin spacecraft of the TRACERS mission. Results from the TRICE-2 mission are summarized, including observed cusp features (low energy ions in the cusp, overlapping cusp ion dispersions and cusp ion signatures) and the connection of the cusp structures to ionospheric convection cells, provided by SuperDARN radar observations, to show the advantages of coordinated space and ground-based observations. A description is provided for how these results - and those of other experiments which made measurements of particles and waves in the cusp and in the dayside magnetosphere - have guided the science objectives of the TRACERS mission.
2018年12月8日上午，两枚探空火箭发射进入北半球极尖区，以研究极尖结构的时空特性。这两枚火箭名为“双火箭探极尖电动力学2号”（TRICE - 2），由一枚高飞火箭和一枚低飞火箭组成，发射间隔两分钟。TRICE - 2任务是即将开展的“串联重联与极尖电动力学探测卫星”（TRACERS）任务的探路者，其搭载的有效载荷与TRACERS任务中双子航天器计划搭载的载荷几乎相同。本文总结了TRICE - 2任务的结果，包括观测到的极尖特征（极尖区的低能离子、重叠的极尖离子色散和极尖离子特征），以及由超级双极光雷达网络（SuperDARN）雷达观测提供的极尖结构与电离层对流单元的联系，以展示空间和地面协同观测的优势。本文还描述了这些结果——以及其他在极尖区和日侧磁层进行粒子和波测量的实验结果——如何指导了TRACERS任务的科学目标。
