JHU/APL/SD/ACE
The Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) was conceived at a meeting on June 19, 1983 at the University of Maryland. The meeting was hosted by George Gloecker and Glen Mason. The participants were Drs. L. F. Burlaga, S. M. Krimigis, R. A. Mewaldt, and E. C. Stone. This meeting had been preceded by preliminary documentation from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the University of Maryland under the proposal name of Cosmic Composition Explorer. An unsolicited proposal was put together and forwarded to the NASA Explorer Program Office later that year, but was not acted upon. The proposal was resurrected at the instigation of Dr. Vernon Jones and officially resubmitted to NASA in 1986 as part of the Explorer Concept Study Program. In 1988, the ACE mission was selected for a one-year "Phase A" (concept) Study. This study was a collaborative effort between spacecraft design and science teams. The ACE Mission officially began on 22 April 1991 when the contract between NASA/GSFC and the California Institute of Technology was signed. APL, designer and builder of the ACE spacecraft, was involved in planning for Phase B (definition). The early ACE Spacecraft effort (April to July 1991) was primarily for ACE mission support, spacecraft system specification and ACE instrument support and interface definition. Phase B of the ACE mission officially began in August 1992. Website: "http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/ACE/" [Summary provided by John Hopkins University.]
ACADEMIC