Cluster post launch extension from April 2010

多国组飞行任务是欧空局的一项基石飞行任务，目的是在我们对地球磁层如何工作、地球对不断变化的太阳风条件、内部不稳定性和电离层施加的影响的反应方面取得重大突破。集群于2000年推出，并于2001年2月开始运营。欧空局已将任务至少延长到2012年底。集群提供了一种独特的能力来测量等离子体环境的重要特征。集群是提供太阳系战略的核心设施，涉及太阳系内的能量流动主题和了解基本的等离子体过程。数字波形处理器(DWP)仪器是英国将在四颗集群卫星上飞行的三台PI仪器之一。DWP是共同组成波浪实验联盟(WEC)的五个实验(DWP、STAFF、EFW、Whisper和WBD)之一。WEC的成立是为了允许共享社区内可用的资源和技能WEC由一套复杂的仪器组成，这些仪器共享航天器上可用的几种资源，如电力、数据速率以及围栏和传感器的使用。WEC构成了每个航天器上几乎一半的科学有效载荷。其中一台WEC仪器(WBD)利用NASA的DSN(深空网络)收集大量数据。这是按照与欧空局地面站收集数据的时间表重叠的时间表进行的。WEC的资源共享、DSN的使用和WEC数据的重要性，使仪器调度和数据处理(包括验证)变得复杂，对任务的成功至关重要。DWP PI和团队一直积极参与项目范围内的活动，以协调业务、数据处理和科学规划。湾仔经济走廊的运作由湾仔经济走廊运作小组统筹，该小组由工务计划专责小组担任主席。英国是这项任务的科学利用和数据处理的主要贡献者。PI研究所负责仪器操作和向集群活动档案馆(CAA)提供最高分辨率的数据，以及支持元数据和文件。DWP为WEC提供集成的指挥、同步和车载数据处理。如果没有这台仪器，41台集群仪器中的20台将无法运行，包括美国宇航局领导的唯一一台执行任务的仪器--WBD。英国通过DWP获得了世界经济共同体所有5个WAVE实验的数据。波和电磁场结构是控制磁层和太阳风等离子体中所有物理变化过程的基本因素。DWP还包含英国粒子相关器实验，该实验直接测量粒子波相互作用和动力学湍流。

The Cluster mission is an ESA cornerstone mission with the objective to make major breakthroughs in our understanding of how the Earth's magnetosphere works, the Earth's response to changing solar-wind conditions, internal instabilities and the influence exerted by the ionosphere. Cluster was launched in 2000 and began operations in February 2001. ESA has extended the mission at least to the end of 2012. Cluster provides a unique capability to measure important characteristics of the plasma environment. Cluster is a core facility for the delivery of the Solar System strategy addressing the themes of energy flow in the Solar System and understanding fundamental plasma processes. The Digital Wave Processor, DWP, instrument is one of the three UK PI instruments to be flown on the four Cluster satellites. DWP is one of the five experiments (DWP, STAFF, EFW, WHISPER, and WBD) that together comprise the Wave Experiment Consortium (WEC). The WEC was formed to allow the sharing of resources and skills available within the community The WEC comprises a complicated set of instruments that share several of the resources available on the spacecraft such as electrical power, data rate and the use of booms and sensors. The WEC forms almost half of the scientific payload on each of the spacecraft. One of the WEC instruments (WBD) makes use of the NASA DSN (Deep Space Network) to collect much of its data. This is done to a schedule that overlaps with the schedule for data collection by the ESA ground stations. The resource sharing of the WEC, use of DSN and importance of WEC data, make both the instrument scheduling and data handling (including validation) complicated and of importance to the success of the mission. The DWP PI and team have been active in project-wide activities to co-ordinate operations, data handling and science planning. Operations of the WEC are co-ordinated by the WEC Operation Group which is chaired by the DWP PI. The UK is the lead contributor to the scientific exploitation and data handling on this mission. PI institutes are responsible for the instrument operation and provision to the Cluster Active Archive (CAA) of the highest resolution data, with supporting metadata and documentation. The DWP provides integrated commanding, synchronisation and on-board data processing for the WEC. Without this instrument 20 of the 41 Cluster instruments would not operate, including the only NASA led instrument on the mission, WBD. The UK through the DWP gains access to data from all 5 wave experiments in the WEC. Waves and electromagnetic field structures are fundamental in controlling all processes of physical change in the magnetospheric and solar wind plasma. The DWP also contains the UK particle correlator experiment which directly measures particle wave interactions and kinetic turbulence.