The IMAGE science and mission operations center

The Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) will produ ce forefront science by quantifying the response of the magnetosphere to th e time variable solar wind. It will acquire, for the first time, a variety of three-dimensional images of magnetospheric boundaries and plasma distrib utions extending from the magnetopause to the inner plasmasphere. The image s will be produced on time scales needed to answer important questions abou t the interactions of the solar wind and the magnetosphere. The IMAGE team will provide open access to all IMAGE data. Thus there will be no proprieta ry rights or periods. All IMAGE data products will be archived and availabl e to the scientific research community. The IMAGE mission will operate with a near 100% duty cycle with all instruments in their baseline operational modes. A Science and Mission Operations Control Center or SMOC has been dev eloped at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to be the main data a nd command processing system for IMAGE. The IMAGE Level-0 data will be proc essed into Level 0.5 and Level-1 data and browse products within 24 hours a fter their receipt of raw data in the SMOC. These data products will be tra nsferred to the NSSDC, for long-term archiving, and posted immediately on t he world-wide-web for use by the international scientific community and the public.