Heliophysics

Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME)

Orbiter · Competed · PI-led · Launched on October 6, 1981 · Completed · LCC: $30M/$150M (2025 $)Life-cycle cost: NASA’s reported cost to build, launch, and operate a mission through its prime mission, plus documented partner contributions, in 2025 dollars. Extended missions are not included. Methods · Wikipedia

Scope Active Mission WindowActivePapers published from the first full month after science operations begin through two years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. For SME, papers published November 1, 1981 to May 1, 1991. Methods LifetimeLifetimeEvery tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. For SME, papers published from 1982 to November 3, 2026. Methods
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed papers we found that name the mission or its instruments in their titles, abstracts, or keywords. Papers that used the data without naming it are missed. Methods179
CitationsCitations: every citation these publications have drawn to date. Older missions have had longer to collect them. Methods6,179
Citation indices
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods46
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods70
m-indexm-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes; the figure shown is as of November 3, 2026. It also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods1.0
toritori (total research impact, from SciX): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Always over every tracked publication to date, whichever scope is chosen. Methods85
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Like tori, always over every tracked publication to date. Methods241

Publications and citations by year (lifetime)

Publications per yearCumulative citations

Institutional contributions (lifetime)The institutions SciX lists for each paper’s authors, as printed on the paper, located through the Research Organization Registry. A square counts a paper once, however many of its authors worked there. Methods

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Tracked publications over the lifetime (179)

All publications CSV · JSON

  1. Improved solar Lyman α irradiance modeling from 1947 through 1999 based on UARS observations

    Woods, Thomas N., 2000, JGR

    293 lifetime citations

  2. Geocoronal imaging with Dynamics Explorer

    Rairden, R. L., 1986, JGR

    248 lifetime citations

  3. Climatology of the semiannual oscillation of the tropical middle atmosphere

    Garcia, Rolando R., 1997, JGR

    208 lifetime citations

  4. Solar Mesosphere Explorer near-infrared spectrometer Measurements of 1.27-micron radiances and the inference of mesospheric ozone

    Thomas, R. J., 1984, JGR

    121 lifetime citations

  5. A Computation of the Stratospheric Diabatic Circulation Using an Accurate Radiative Transfer Model.

    Rosenfield, Joan E., 1987, JAtS

    111 lifetime citations

  6. Ground-based microwave observations of ozone in the upper stratosphere and mesosphere

    Connor, Brian J., 1994, JGR

    107 lifetime citations

  7. Temperature effects on the stratosphere of the April 4, 1982 eruption of El Chichon, Mexico

    Labitzke, K., 1983, GeoRL

    105 lifetime citations

  8. Solar-terrestrial coupling: Low-latitude thermospheric nitric oxide

    Barth, Charles A., 1988, GeoRL

    102 lifetime citations

  9. A growth-sedimentation model of polar mesospheric clouds: Comparison with SME measurements

    Jensen, Eric, 1988, JGR

    99 lifetime citations

  10. Climatology and trends of mesospheric (58-90 km) temperatures based upon 1982-1986 SME Limb scattering profiles

    Clancy, R. Todd, 1989, JGR

    99 lifetime citations

  11. EUV97: Improvements to EUV Irradiance Modeling in the Soft X-Rays and FUV

    Tobiska, W. Kent, 1998, SoPh

    93 lifetime citations

  12. Mesospheric ozone depletion during the Solar Proton Event of July 13, 1982 Part II. Comparison between theory and measurements

    Solomon, S., 1983, GeoRL

    92 lifetime citations

  13. On the mean particle size and water content of polar mesospheric clouds

    Thomas, G. E., 1985, P&SS

    91 lifetime citations

  14. Response of middle atmosphere to short-term solar ultraviolet variations. I - Observations. II - Theory

    Keating, G. M., 1987, JGR

    90 lifetime citations

  15. Observations of solar UV and EUV variability

    Rottman, G. J., 1988, AdSpR

    90 lifetime citations

  16. Precipitating relativistic electrons: Their long-term effect on stratospheric odd nitrogen levels

    Callis, Linwood B., 1991, JGR

    90 lifetime citations

  17. An Improved Lyman-Alpha Composite

    Machol, J., 2019, E&SS

    90 lifetime citations

  18. Comparison of 10.7 cm radio flux with SME solar Lyman alpha flux

    Barth, Charles A., 1990, GeoRL

    86 lifetime citations

  19. A solar EUV flux model

    Tobiska, W. Kent, 1990, JGR

    84 lifetime citations

  20. Solar Mesosphere Explorer: Scientific objectives and results

    Barth, C. A., 1983, GeoRL

    80 lifetime citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Science Explorer (SciX) for peer-reviewed articles naming SME in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces.

((=abs:"Solar Mesosphere Explorer" OR =abs:"Solar Mesospheric Explorer" OR =abs:"SME satellite" OR (abs:SME AND (abs:(mesosphere OR mesospheric OR stratosphere OR stratospheric OR airglow OR lyman OR mesopause OR UARS) OR =abs:"middle atmosphere" OR =abs:"polar mesospheric" OR (=abs:irradiance AND abs:solar) OR (abs:ozone AND abs:(SBUV OR SAGE OR LIMS OR Nimbus OR satellite)))))) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[1981-11 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "ACPD" OR "AIASJ" OR "AMTD" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "BGD" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "CliPD" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "ESDD" OR "ESSDD" OR "ESuDD" OR "GID" OR "GMDD" OR "GeCAS" OR "HESSD" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NHESD" OR "NPGD" OR "NewSc" OR "OcScD" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SOILD" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "TCD" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Removed after review (7)

  1. Environment-friendly industrial cleaning agents incorporating plant-oil-based raw materials as chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) alternatives Industrial cleaning agents; SME here means soybean methyl ester. Decision 🤖
  2. Commercial lunar propellant architecture: A collaborative study of lunar propellant production Lunar propellant study; SME here means subject matter expert. Decision 🤖
  3. How COVID-19 shock will drive the economy and climate? A data-driven approach to model and forecast Economics paper; SME here means small and medium enterprises. Decision 🤖
  4. A statistical study of the O₂ atmospheric band aurora observed by the Swedish satellite MATS MATS satellite aurora study; SME here is the SuperMAG geomagnetic index. Decision 🤖
  5. A ground state of the geospace on November 6─7, 2009 Geospace quiet-day study; SME here is the SuperMAG geomagnetic index. Decision 🤖
  6. Geomagnetic Disturbances and Midlatitude Airglow During the 20 December 2015 Magnetospheric Storm Geomagnetic storm study; SME here is the SuperMAG electrojet index. Decision 🤖
  7. Infrared atmospheric band airglow radiometer on board the satellite Ohzora Describes an instrument on another satellite (Ohzora); reports no SME results. Decision 🤖