Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk
SES-14 with GOLD (bottom left of satellite) | |
| Names | GOLD |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Observation of Earth's thermosphere and ionosphere |
| Operator | Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics |
| COSPAR ID | 2018-012B |
| SATCAT no. | 43175 |
| Website | gold |
| Mission duration | 2 years (planned) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | Explorer |
| Manufacturer | Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics |
| Launch mass | 36.8 kg (81 lb) |
| Dimensions | 51 cm × 55 cm × 69 cm (20 in × 22 in × 27 in) |
| Power | 72.4 watts |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 25 January 2018, 22:20 UTC |
| Rocket | Ariane 5 ECA, VA241 |
| Launch site | Centre Spatial Guyanais, Kourou, ELA-3 |
| Contractor | Arianespace |
| Entered service | October 2018 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit (planned) |
| Regime | Geostationary orbit |
| Main Imaging spectrograph | |
| Wavelengths | Far ultraviolet |
| Transponders | |
| Bandwidth | 6 Mbps |
Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) is a heliophysics Mission of Opportunity (MOU) for NASA's Explorers program. Led by Richard Eastes at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, which is located at the University of Colorado Boulder, GOLD's mission is to image the boundary between Earth and space in order to answer questions about the effects of solar and atmospheric variability of Earth's space weather. GOLD was one of 11 proposals selected, of the 42 submitted, for further study in September 2011. On 12 April 2013, NASA announced that GOLD, along with the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), had been selected for flight in 2017. GOLD, along with its commercial host satellite SES-14, launched on 25 January 2018.