Journey 'Round the Sun: STEREO Science and Spacecraft Performance Results

Abstract

The Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) was originally designed as a two- to five-year heliocentric orbit mission to study coronal mass ejections (CMEs), solar energetic particles (SEPs), and the solar wind. After over ten years of continuous science data collection, the twin NASA STEREO observatories have significantly advanced the understanding of Heliophysics. This mission was the first to image CMEs all the way from the Sun to Earth and to observe the entire sphere of the Sun at one time. STEREO has demonstrated the importance of a point of view beyond the Sun-Earth line to significantly improve CME arrival time estimates and in understanding CME structure and trajectories and the longitudinal distribution of SEPs. STEREO was also the first to use one launch vehicle to insert two spacecraft into opposing heliocentric orbits, undergo a 3.5-month-long superior solar conjunction, implement unattended daily science operations on two deep space observatories, maintain 7 arcsec continuous pointing without gyros, and detect and attempt to recover a spacecraft after a 22-month long communications anomaly at a range of 2 AU (Astronomical Units). This paper discusses the significant performance results after the first ten years of operations of the STEREO mission from its journey around the Sun