Names Explorer-73, SMEX-4 Operator NASA / GSFC SATCAT no. 25280 Rocket Pegasus Resolution 1 arcsec | Mission type Heliophysics COSPAR ID 1998-020A Website trace.lmsal.com Launch date 2 April 1998 Launch site Vandenberg Air Force Base | |
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Wavelengths Ultraviolet and extreme ultraviolet Manufacturers NASA, Lockheed Martin Similar Yohkoh, Solar and Heliosph, Hinode, STEREO, Uhuru | ||
Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) was a NASA heliophysics and solar observatory designed to investigate the connections between fine-scale magnetic fields and the associated plasma structures on the Sun by providing high resolution images and observation of the solar photosphere, the transition region, and the corona. A main focus of the TRACE instrument is the fine structure of coronal loops low in the solar atmosphere. TRACE is the fourth spacecraft in the Small Explorer program, launched on April 2, 1998, and obtained its last science image in 2010.
The satellite was built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Its telescope was constructed by a consortium led by Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center. The optics were designed and built to a state-of-the-art surface finish by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO). The telescope has a 30 cm (12 in) aperture and 1024×1024 CCD detector giving an 8.5 arc minute field of view. The telescope is designed to take correlated images in a range of wavelengths from visible light through the Lyman alpha line to far ultraviolet. The different wavelength passbands correspond to plasma emission temperatures from 4,000 to 4,000,000 K. The optics use a special multilayer technique to focus the difficult-to-reflect EUV light; the technique was first used for solar imaging in the late 1980s and 1990s, notably by the MSSTA and NIXT sounding rocket payloads.