NASA has selected two science missions – the Multi-slit Solar Explorer
(MUSE) and HelioSwarm – to help improve our understanding of the dynamics of
the Sun, the Sun-Earth connection, and the constantly changing space
environment. These missions will provide deeper insights into our universe
and offer critical information to help protect astronauts, satellites, and
communications signals such as GPS.
“MUSE and HelioSwarm will provide new and deeper insight into the solar
atmosphere and space weather,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate
administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “These
missions not only extend the science of our other heliophysics missions—they
also provide a unique perspective and a novel approach to understanding the
mysteries of our star.”
MUSE
The MUSE mission will help scientists understand the forces driving the
heating of the Sun’s corona and the eruptions in that outermost region that
are at the foundation of space weather. The mission will offer deeper
insight into the physics of the solar atmosphere by using a powerful
instrument known as a multi-slit spectrometer to observe the Sun’s extreme
ultraviolet radiation and obtain the highest resolution images ever captured
of the solar transition region and the corona.
The mission will also provide complementary observations from heliophysics
research such as the Extreme UltraViolet Spectroscopic Telescope and
ground-based observatories.
“MUSE will help us fill crucial gaps in knowledge pertaining to the
Sun-Earth connection,” said Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics
Division at NASA Headquarters. “It will provide more insight into space
weather and complements a host of other missions within the heliophysics
mission fleet.”
The primary goal of the MUSE mission is to investigate the causes of coronal
heating and instability, such as flares and coronal mass ejections, and gain
insight into the basic plasma properties of the corona. MUSE will obtain
high-resolution images of the evolution of solar flare ribbons in a field of
view focused on a large, active region on the Sun.
The principal investigator for the MUSE mission is Bart DePontieu of the
Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center (LMATC) of Palo Alto, California.
This mission has a budget of $192 million. LMATC will provide project
management.
HelioSwarm
The HelioSwarm mission is a constellation or “swarm” of nine spacecraft that
will capture the first multiscale in-space measurements of fluctuations in
the magnetic field and motions of the solar wind known as solar wind
turbulence. The Sun’s outermost atmospheric layer, the heliosphere,
encompasses an enormous region of the solar system. Solar winds spread
through the heliosphere, and their interactions with planetary
magnetospheres and disruptions such as coronal mass ejections affect their
turbulence.
Studying solar wind turbulence across large areas requires plasma
measurements taken simultaneously from different points in space. HelioSwarm
consists of one hub spacecraft and eight co-orbiting small satellites that
range in distance from each other and the hub spacecraft. The hub spacecraft
will maintain radio contact with each small satellite. All radio contact
between the swarm and Earth will be conducted through the hub spacecraft and
the NASA Deep Space Network of spacecraft communication antennas.
“The technical innovation of HelioSwarm’s small satellites operating
together as a constellation provides the unique ability to investigate
turbulence and its evolution in the solar wind,” said Peg Luce, deputy
director of the Heliophysics Division.
The HelioSwarm mission’s principal investigator is Harlan Spence from the
University of New Hampshire. The mission’s budget is $250 million. NASA’s
Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, will provide project
management.
Funding and management oversight for these missions is provided by the
Heliophysics Explorers Program, managed by the Explorers Program Office at
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
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Space & Astrophysics