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Forty-Eight Hour Plot
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Six-Hour Plot
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The NASA Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite orbits the L1 libration point approximately 1,500,000 km upwind of Earth, so it is always in the general direction of the Sun. Because space weather is a round-the-clock enterprise, data from ACE is required to be collected continuously every day. In order to do this, SWPC relies on international partners and domestic partners to provide this continuous tracking of the satellite. These plots indicate which partners are providing data and are an aid in diagnosing problems should the data stop flowing.
The two plots show the same information, over two different time scales; the past 48 hours and the past 6 hours. The 48 hour plot is updated every fifteen minutes and the 6 hour plot is updated every minute.
The plots show the ACE Real Time Solar Wind (RTSW) data received and processed by SWPC as a function of time. It indicates the currency of the ACE RTSW data and the total temporal coverage achieved by the network. Data received from each ground system in the RTSW tracking partnership, known as the RTSWnetwork (RTSWnet) are displayed in their respective panels with the total tracking coverage shown at the bottom.
The RTSWnet consists of:
- National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Tokyo, Japan
- Korean Space Weather Center (KSWC) in Jeju, Korea
- German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Neustrelitz, Germany
- Station DL0SHF in Kiel-Roenne, Germany
- NASA Deep Space Network (NASA)
- NOAA Wallops Command and Data Acquisition (WCDA) Station in Wallops Island, Virginia
- NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (BOU) in Boulder, Colorado
- UNK (unknown) indicates a new, as yet unassociated tracking station identifier. New identifiers are usually assigned within a few days.
Recent history of the RTSWnet:
December, 2016: The German station DL0SHF began tracking of the ACE satellite.
February, 2012: The Korean Space Weather Center began operational tracking of the ACE satellite.
October, 2009: The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory discontinued tracking of the ACE satellite.
September, 2009: The German Aerospace Center began operational tracking of the ACE satellite.
Previous partners who have tracked the ACE satellite are:
- Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)
- Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK (RAL)
- European Space Agency (ESA)
- United States Air Force (USAF) Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN)
No public archive of this product exists. SWPC has access to data since September 2004 that shows the stations that have provided ACE tracking. If there is a need for these data or if you have any questions about the RTSWnet, you should direct your inquiry to Douglas Biesecker.