Instrument Overview

The twin STEREO observatories are carrying two instruments and two instrument suites aboard each craft. This combination provides a total of 16 instruments per observatory, most of which are housed in the SECHHI (Sun-Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation) and IMPACT (In situ Measurements of PArticles and CME Transients) suites. The instruments were built by numerous organizations worldwide with a principal investigator, or PI, leading each instrument team. During the mission, the PIs directly control their instruments from Payload Operations Centers situated at four locations across the globe.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) designed and built the spacecraft platform that houses the instruments onboard the twin STEREO observatories. The Laboratory is also operating the twin observatories, for NASA, during the two-year mission from the APL-based Mission Operations Center.