The Geotail mission measures global energy flow and transformation in the magnetotail to increase understanding of fundamental magnetospheric processes. The objective of tthe DUVE experiment is to perform sensitive spectroscopy of diffuse emissions from the interstellar medium to increase the understanding of the dynamics and evolution of the interstellar medium and the Galaxy.
Delta II was an expendable launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas. Delta II was part of the Delta rocket family and entered service in 1989. Delta II vehicles included the Delta 6000, and the two later Delta 7000 variants ("Light" and "Heavy"). The rocket flew its final mission ICESat-2 on 15 September 2018, earning the launch vehicle a streak of 100 successful missions in a row, with the last failure being GPS IIR-1 in 1997.