Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society
REPORT OF THE PANEL ON SOLAR WIND-MAGNETOSPHERE INTERACTIONS
241
tap into the creativity of the science community. Thus, the SWMI panel supports a significant enhancement
of resources dedicated to the Explorer program. This includes increases in the flight cadence of missions
in this category, as well as launches of opportunity. The panel also supports the extension of the program
limits to include so-called tiny Explorers (TEX) (~$50 million) and enhanced MIDEX (~$400 million) options,
but emphasizes the importance of maintaining a high mission cadence.
SWMI Imperative: Enhance the resources dedicated to the Explorer program and broaden the range
of cost categories.
The past decades have further demonstrated that suborbital missions and, more recently, CubeSats (a constellation of individual CubeSats might constitute a TEX mission) can make significant and very cost-effective
contributions to addressing pressing science questions. They also serve as an instrument development platform
and as a training ground for the future workforce. The SWMI panel encourages continued support for science
investigations conducted on these small, cost-effective platforms. Moreover, the panel also calls on NASA
and other agencies to develop an effective mechanism for supporting payloads on commercial vehicles,
consistent with U.S. national space policy. Ideally, such a mechanism would allow the rapid development
and deployment that are often required by these types of missions. The SWMI panel supports continuation
of a cost-effective management program that applies risk/benefit tools appropriate to this cost category.
SWMI Imperative: Develop a mechanism within NASA to support rapid development, deployment,
and utilization of science payloads on commercial vehicles and other missions of opportunity. NSF and
DOD efforts in this regard are also encouraged.
9.5.2.4 New Strategic Missions
Analysis of the rich set of data derived from ongoing missions and missions in development, combined
with new approaches that will emerge from the Explorer and other smaller mission lines, will provide a
firm foundation for accomplishing the SWMI critical science goals outlined in this chapter for the coming
decade. However, attaining those goals will also require crucial new observations that have previously
been impossible. To obtain those essential observations will require investing in new strategic missions,
targeted at the highest-priority science.
In the early stages of this decadal survey, the scientific community submitted a large number of mission concepts addressing different outstanding science questions. In evaluating these concepts, the panel
considered the degree to which they address the SWMI science goals. The panel also weighed feasibility
issues such as technology readiness and probable cost. Below, the science objectives and implementation
strategies for the three top-ranked mission concepts considered by the SWMI panel are summarized. The
panel emphasizes that, although it assigned them names for ease of discussion, these are only notional missions, devised to address the panel’s science objectives, with feasible technology and within a reasonable
budget for a strategic mission. For the purposes of this study, it is the science objectives for the missions,
not their specific implementations, that are most important.
Magnetosphere Energetics, Dynamics, and Ionospheric Coupling (MEDICI)
MEDICI (Figure 9.10) is the SWMI panel’s highest-ranked new strategic mission concept and the one
it most strongly urges as a new start in the coming decade.
Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society
REPORT OF THE PANEL ON SOLAR WIND-MAGNETOSPHERE INTERACTIONS
241
tap into the creativity of the science community. Thus, the SWMI panel supports a significant enhancement
of resources dedicated to the Explorer program. This includes increases in the flight cadence of missions
in this category, as well as launches of opportunity. The panel also supports the extension of the program
limits to include so-called tiny Explorers (TEX) (~$50 million) and enhanced MIDEX (~$400 million) options,
but emphasizes the importance of maintaining a high mission cadence.
SWMI Imperative: Enhance the resources dedicated to the Explorer program and broaden the range
of cost categories.
The past decades have further demonstrated that suborbital missions and, more recently, CubeSats (a constellation of individual CubeSats might constitute a TEX mission) can make significant and very cost-effective
contributions to addressing pressing science questions. They also serve as an instrument development platform
and as a training ground for the future workforce. The SWMI panel encourages continued support for science
investigations conducted on these small, cost-effective platforms. Moreover, the panel also calls on NASA
and other agencies to develop an effective mechanism for supporting payloads on commercial vehicles,
consistent with U.S. national space policy. Ideally, such a mechanism would allow the rapid development
and deployment that are often required by these types of missions. The SWMI panel supports continuation
of a cost-effective management program that applies risk/benefit tools appropriate to this cost category.
SWMI Imperative: Develop a mechanism within NASA to support rapid development, deployment,
and utilization of science payloads on commercial vehicles and other missions of opportunity. NSF and
DOD efforts in this regard are also encouraged.
9.5.2.4 New Strategic Missions
Analysis of the rich set of data derived from ongoing missions and missions in development, combined
with new approaches that will emerge from the Explorer and other smaller mission lines, will provide a
firm foundation for accomplishing the SWMI critical science goals outlined in this chapter for the coming
decade. However, attaining those goals will also require crucial new observations that have previously
been impossible. To obtain those essential observations will require investing in new strategic missions,
targeted at the highest-priority science.
In the early stages of this decadal survey, the scientific community submitted a large number of mission concepts addressing different outstanding science questions. In evaluating these concepts, the panel
considered the degree to which they address the SWMI science goals. The panel also weighed feasibility
issues such as technology readiness and probable cost. Below, the science objectives and implementation
strategies for the three top-ranked mission concepts considered by the SWMI panel are summarized. The
panel emphasizes that, although it assigned them names for ease of discussion, these are only notional missions, devised to address the panel’s science objectives, with feasible technology and within a reasonable
budget for a strategic mission. For the purposes of this study, it is the science objectives for the missions,
not their specific implementations, that are most important.
Magnetosphere Energetics, Dynamics, and Ionospheric Coupling (MEDICI)
MEDICI (Figure 9.10) is the SWMI panel’s highest-ranked new strategic mission concept and the one
it most strongly urges as a new start in the coming decade.