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Ann. Geophys., 23, 2707-2712, 2005
www.ann-geophys.net/23/2707/2005/
© European Geosciences Union 2005
The Double Star mission
Liu1, Escoubet2, Pu3, Laakso2, Shi1, Shen1, and Hapgood4
1CSSAR, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 8701, Zhong, 100080 Beijing, China
2ESA/ESTEC, SCI-SH, Keplerlaan 1, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands
3Department of Geophysics, Peking University, Yiheyuan Street, #5, 100871 Beijing, China
4RAL, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, UK
Abstract. The Double Star Programme (DSP) was first proposed by
China in March, 1997 at the Fragrant Hill Workshop on Space Science,
Beijing, organized by the Chinese Academy of Science. It is the first
mission in collaboration between China and ESA. The mission is made of two
spacecraft to investigate the magnetospheric global processes and their
response to the interplanetary disturbances in conjunction with the Cluster
mission. The first spacecraft, TC-1 (Tan Ce means "Explorer"), was launched on 29 December 2003, and
the second one, TC-2, on 25 July 2004 on board two Chinese Long March 2C
rockets. TC-1 was injected in an equatorial orbit of 570x79000 km
altitude with a 28° inclination and TC-2 in a polar orbit of
560x38000 km altitude. The orbits have been designed to complement the
Cluster mission by maximizing the time when both Cluster and Double Star are
in the same scientific regions. The two missions allow simultaneous
observations of the Earth magnetosphere from six points in space. To
facilitate the comparison of data, half of the Double Star payload is made
of spare or duplicates of the Cluster instruments; the other half is made of
Chinese instruments. The science operations are coordinated by the Chinese
DSP Scientific Operations Centre (DSOC) in Beijing and the European Payload
Operations Service (EPOS) at RAL, UK. The spacecraft and ground segment
operations are performed by the DSP Operations and Management Centre (DOMC)
and DSOC in China, using three ground station, in Beijing, Shanghai and
Villafranca.
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