August 3, 2017 Heliophysics is the study of how the Sun affects space and the space environment of planets. Credit: NASA <\/p>\n
NASA has selected nine proposals under its Explorers Program that will return transformational science about the sun and space environment and fill science gaps between the agency's larger missions; eight for focused scientific investigations and one for technological development of instrumentation. One, called sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (sunRISE), is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. <\/p>\n
The broad scope of the investigations illustrates the many vital and specialized research areas that must be explored simultaneously in the area of heliophysics, which is the study of how the sun affects space and the space environment of planets. <\/p>\n
\"The Explorers Program seeks innovative ideas for small and cost-constrained missions that can help unravel the mysteries of the Universe,\" said Paul Hertz, director of NASA's Astrophysics Division and the selection official. \"These missions absolutely meet that standard with proposals to solve mysteries about the sun's corona, the Earth's atmosphere and magnetosphere, and the solar wind.\" <\/p>\n
Under the selected proposals, five Heliophysics Small Explorer missions and two Explorer Missions of Opportunity Small Complete Missions (SCM), concept studies will be conducted that span a broad range of investigations focusing on terrestrial weather in the near-Earth space environmentmagnetic energy, solar wind, heating and energy released in the solar atmosphere. <\/p>\n
The proposals were selected based on potential science value and feasibility of development plans. Small Explorer mission costs are capped at $165 million each, and Mission of Opportunity costs are capped at $55 million each. <\/p>\n
Each Heliophysics Small Explorer mission will receive $1.25 million to conduct an 11-month mission concept study. The selected proposals are: <\/p>\n
Mechanisms of Energetic Mass EjectioneXplorer (MEME-X) <\/p>\n
Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) <\/p>\n
Multi-Slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) <\/p>\n
Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) <\/p>\n
Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) <\/p>\n
Each Mission of Opportunity SCM will receive $400,000 to conduct an 11-month mission concept study. The selected proposals are: <\/p>\n
sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (sunRISE) <\/p>\n
Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) <\/p>\n
A Partner Mission of Opportunity (PMO) proposal has been selected for components and scientific analysis for three in situ payload instruments aboard the Turbulence Heating ObserveR (THOR) mission - one of four proposed missions currently under consideration by ESA (European Space Agency). After ESA's final selection, work will begin on implementation of the PMO only if THOR is selected. <\/p>\n
The chosen PMO is: <\/p>\n
U.S. Contributions to the THOR mission (THOR-US) <\/p>\n
One Mission of Opportunity SCM received highly favorable review for scientific and scientific implementation merit, but was deemed to require more technological development of the instrument's innovative optical design before further consideration of an implementation concept. This proposal is offered funding for a continued technology development study. The SCM chosen for a technology development investigation is: <\/p>\n
COronal Spectrographic Imager in the Extreme ultraviolet (COSIE) <\/p>\n
The Explorers Program is the oldest continuous NASA program designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space using principal investigator-led space science investigations relevant to the agency's astrophysics and heliophysics programs. Since the Explorer 1 launch in 1958, which discovered Earth's radiation belts, the Explorers Program has launched more than 90 missions, including the Uhuru and Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) missions that led to Nobel Prizes for their investigators. <\/p>\n
Explore further: SwRI's small satellite mission moves forward <\/p>\n
More information: For more information about NASA's Science Mission Directorate activities, see science.nasa.gov<\/p>\n
NASA has selected Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to further develop the concept for a small satellite mission to image the Sun's outer corona. SwRI's \"Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere\" (PUNCH) program ... <\/p>\n
SA has selected five proposals submitted to its Explorers Program to conduct focused scientific investigations and develop instruments that fill the scientific gaps between the agency's larger missions. <\/p>\n
NASA has begun development of a mission to visit and study the sun closer than ever before. The unprecedented project, named Solar Probe Plus, is slated to launch no later than 2018. <\/p>\n
NASA's Astrophysics Explorer Program has selected two missions for launch in 2017: a planet-hunting satellite and an International Space Station instrument to observe X-rays from stars. <\/p>\n
A sounding rocket originally developed as a prototype for NASA's next generation of space-based solar spectrographs will make its third flight tomorrow, May 5, at 12:25 p.m. MDT from White Sands, N.M. <\/p>\n
NASA has selected a mission that will perform the first reconnaissance of the Trojans, a population of primitive asteroids orbiting in tandem with Jupiter. The Lucy mission will launch in 2021 to study six of these exciting ... <\/p>\n
The elemental composition of the Sun's hot atmosphere known as the 'corona' is strongly linked to the 11-year solar magnetic activity cycle, a team of scientists from UCL, George Mason University and Naval Research Laboratory ... <\/p>\n
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(Phys.org)Observations conducted with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have uncovered a young stellar cluster designated NGC 3293. The data provided by the spacecraft reveal insights about its stellar population. The findings ... <\/p>\n
(Phys.org)A team of researchers with Universit Paris-Saclay has found evidence suggesting that the planet Venus may once have had an ocean. In their paper published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, the group ... <\/p>\n
The sun's core rotates nearly four times faster than the sun's surface, according to new findings by an international team of astronomers. Scientists had assumed the core was rotating like a merry-go-round at about the same ... <\/p>\n
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NASA selects proposals to study sun, space environment - Phys.Org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" August 3, 2017 Heliophysics is the study of how the Sun affects space and the space environment of planets. Credit: NASA NASA has selected nine proposals under its Explorers Program that will return transformational science about the sun and space environment and fill science gaps between the agency's larger missions; eight for focused scientific investigations and one for technological development of instrumentation Continue reading