Space Weather Diamond: a four spacecraft monitoring system

We report here preliminary results of a mission analysis fur a space weathe r monitoring system that provides continuous transmission of solar wind con ditions 0.10 A.U. upstream from Earth. The system is based on four platform s that are phased into eccentric heliocentric orbits but, from the perspect ive of a fixed Sun-Earth line, the spacecraft appear to orbit Earth. This s ystem offers a 10x improvement in reporting solar wind plasma and magnetic field characteristics beyond similar platforms located at the Lagrangian L- 1 point. We describe launch and energy considerations, along with a prelimi nary analysis of communication requirements. The Space Weather Diamond offe rs significant potential for scientific insight into problems requiring coo rdinated observations from multiple vantage points by providing the ability to separate spatial from temporal variations. We discuss examples for payl oads including both in situ and remote sensing instrumentation. (C) 2000 El sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.