Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society
134
SOLAR AND SPACE PHYSICS: A SCIENCE FOR A TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Recommended Augmentation Priorities for Maintaining Balance Under More Favorable Budgets
The survey committee recommends the following augmentation priorities to aid in implementing a
program under a more favorable budgetary environment:
Augmentation Priority 1. If even modest additional financial resources can be made available early in
the decade, the implementation of the DRIVE initiative should be accelerated.
Augmentation Priority 2. Given sufficient funds throughout the decade, the Explorer line should be
further augmented so as to increase the cadence and amount of funding available for missions including Missions of Opportunity.
Augmentation Priority 3. Given further budget augmentation, the cadence of STP missions should
increase to allow the recommended third-priority mid-size science target (MEDICI) to be initiated in
this decade.
Augmentation Priority 4. The major-mission-line recommendation (GDC) should be implemented in
the most cost-effective manner, if possible with a funding bump as shown in Figure 6.1.
INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS
Collaborations between NASA and foreign space agencies have historically achieved major science at
a relatively low cost to the United States. Missions labeled with an asterisk in Figure 6.2 are examples of
such international collaborations. These include SOHO, Ulysses, Yohkoh, CLUSTER, Hinode, and Solar
Orbiter. Collaborations with the Japanese space agency have been particularly fruitful, with investments
of Explorer-size funds having resulted in full U.S. participation in major missions (Yohkoh, Hinode). Such
missions leverage U.S. investments while simultaneously sustaining a U.S. leadership role in science. 3
Opportunities continue to arise for NASA to collaborate with other nations, and in so doing to obtain
a high science return at a relatively low cost. The Solar-C mission, a follow-on to Yohkoh and Hinode that
will study the magnetic coupling of the lower solar atmosphere and the corona, has been confirmed by
Japan and would greatly benefit from contributions of instrumentation from the United States. A mission
concept has also been developed in Japan, Canada, and Europe that involves a fleet of spacecraft performing simultaneous in situ measurements of fields and plasmas at key locations in the magnetosphere. Finally,
NASA support for the U.S.-Taiwanese FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC microsatellite science mission for weather,
climate, space weather, and geodetic research illustrates the range of possible collaborative opportunities
that might arise. The augmented Explorer line is the recommended source of funding for participation in
most such international collaborations.
3 At the same time, collaborations with international partners add complexity and risk that must be actively managed. See, for example, National Research Council, U.S.-European Collaboration in Space Science, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1998.
Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society
134
SOLAR AND SPACE PHYSICS: A SCIENCE FOR A TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY
Recommended Augmentation Priorities for Maintaining Balance Under More Favorable Budgets
The survey committee recommends the following augmentation priorities to aid in implementing a
program under a more favorable budgetary environment:
Augmentation Priority 1. If even modest additional financial resources can be made available early in
the decade, the implementation of the DRIVE initiative should be accelerated.
Augmentation Priority 2. Given sufficient funds throughout the decade, the Explorer line should be
further augmented so as to increase the cadence and amount of funding available for missions including Missions of Opportunity.
Augmentation Priority 3. Given further budget augmentation, the cadence of STP missions should
increase to allow the recommended third-priority mid-size science target (MEDICI) to be initiated in
this decade.
Augmentation Priority 4. The major-mission-line recommendation (GDC) should be implemented in
the most cost-effective manner, if possible with a funding bump as shown in Figure 6.1.
INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS
Collaborations between NASA and foreign space agencies have historically achieved major science at
a relatively low cost to the United States. Missions labeled with an asterisk in Figure 6.2 are examples of
such international collaborations. These include SOHO, Ulysses, Yohkoh, CLUSTER, Hinode, and Solar
Orbiter. Collaborations with the Japanese space agency have been particularly fruitful, with investments
of Explorer-size funds having resulted in full U.S. participation in major missions (Yohkoh, Hinode). Such
missions leverage U.S. investments while simultaneously sustaining a U.S. leadership role in science. 3
Opportunities continue to arise for NASA to collaborate with other nations, and in so doing to obtain
a high science return at a relatively low cost. The Solar-C mission, a follow-on to Yohkoh and Hinode that
will study the magnetic coupling of the lower solar atmosphere and the corona, has been confirmed by
Japan and would greatly benefit from contributions of instrumentation from the United States. A mission
concept has also been developed in Japan, Canada, and Europe that involves a fleet of spacecraft performing simultaneous in situ measurements of fields and plasmas at key locations in the magnetosphere. Finally,
NASA support for the U.S.-Taiwanese FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC microsatellite science mission for weather,
climate, space weather, and geodetic research illustrates the range of possible collaborative opportunities
that might arise. The augmented Explorer line is the recommended source of funding for participation in
most such international collaborations.
3 At the same time, collaborations with international partners add complexity and risk that must be actively managed. See, for example, National Research Council, U.S.-European Collaboration in Space Science, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1998.