Page 36 - EngineerIT March 2022

SPACE SCIENCES

New Sun missions to help NASA better

understand Earth-Sun environment

ASA has selected two science headquarters. “It will provide more insight into space weather and complements a host of
missions – the multi-slit solar other missions within the heliophysics mission fleet.”
Nexplorer (MUSE) and HelioSwarm The primary goal of the MUSE mission is to investigate the causes of coronal heating and
– to help improve our understanding of instability, such as flares and coronal mass ejections, and gain insight into the basic plasma
the dynamics of the Sun, the Sun-Earth properties of the corona. MUSE will obtain high resolution images of the evolution of solar
connection, and the constantly changing flare ribbons in a field of view focused on a large, active region on the Sun.
space environment. These missions The principal investigator for the MUSE mission is Bart DePontieu of the Lockheed Martin
will provide deeper insights into our Advanced Technology Centre (LMATC) of Palo Alto, California. This mission has a budget of
universe and offer critical information to $192 million. LMATC will provide project management.
help protect astronauts, satellites and
communications signals such as GPS. HelioSwarm
“MUSE and HelioSwarm will provide The HelioSwarm mission is a constellation or “swarm” of nine spacecraft that will capture
new and deeper insight into the solar the first multiscale in-space measurements of fluctuations in the magnetic field and motions
atmosphere and space weather,” of the solar wind known as solar wind turbulence. The Sun’s outermost atmospheric
said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate layer, the heliosphere, encompasses an enormous region of the solar system. Solar winds
administrator for science at NASA spread through the heliosphere, and their interactions with planetary magnetospheres and
headquarters in Washington. “These disruptions such as coronal mass ejections affect their turbulence.
missions not only extend the science of Studying solar wind turbulence across large areas requires plasma measurements taken
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 A mid-level solar flare that peaked on 1 October 2015, captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics
of the heliophysics division at NASA Observatory. Credits: NASA/SDO

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