A Decade Revealing the Sun‐Earth Connection in Three Dimensions

Abstract

Cluster 10th Anniversary Workshop: Understanding the Solar Wind–Magnetosphere Interaction at Multiple Scales With Cluster, THEMIS, and Double Star; Corfu, Greece, 27 September to 1 October 2010; The Cluster mission, an international collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, has now been in space for 10 years. The four Cluster satellites fly in tight formation around Earth, and revealed for the first time in three dimensions how the Sun affects our planet's space environment. Cluster, along with other space missions like Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) and Double Star, has provided a leap forward in scientists' understanding of space plasma physics phenomena including the origin of the auroras, magnetic reconnection, shocks, plasma turbulence, substorms, and the science behind space weather.