AMPTE

AMPTE (for Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers) was a NASA mission with three spacecraft launched together in 1984:

• AMPTE-IRM "AMPTE-Ion Release Module".
• AMPTE-CCE "AMPTE-Charge Composition Explorer".
• AMPTE-UKS "AMPTE-United Kingdom Satellite".

The AMPTE-IRM released ions a number of times, with the three spacecraft performing measurements each time, trying to discover how Earth's magnetic field (magnetosphere) must be affecting solar-wind particles. One of the ion releases was termed an artificial comet, intended to simulate some of the effects of a comet. Two of the spacecraft also made measurements of a solar storm in September 1984.