Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society
SUMMARY
5
• The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS; Explorer program, 2013 launch) will deliver pioneering observations of chromospheric dynamics just above the solar surface to help determine their role
in the origin of the fluxes of heat and mass into the corona and wind.
• The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission (MMS; Solar-Terrestrial Probes (STP) program, 2014 launch)
will address the physics of magnetic reconnection at the previously inaccessible tiny scale where reconnection is triggered.
Compelling missions that are not yet in advanced stages of development but are part of a baseline
program whose continuation NASA asked the survey committee to assume include the following: 3
• Solar Orbiter (European Space Agency-NASA partnership, 2017 launch) will investigate links
between the solar surface, corona, and inner heliosphere from as close as 62 solar radii.
• Solar Probe Plus (SPP; LWS program, 2018 launch) will make mankind’s first visit to the solar corona
to discover how the corona is heated, how the solar wind is accelerated, and how the Sun accelerates
particles to high energy.
The powerful fleet of space missions that explore our local cosmos will be significantly strengthened with
the addition of these missions. However, their implementation as well as the rest of the baseline program
will consume nearly all of the resources anticipated to be available for new starts within NASA’s Heliophysics Division through the midpoint of the overall survey period, 2013-2022.
For NSF, the previous decade witnessed the initial deployment in Alaska of the Advanced Modular
Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR), a mobile facility used to study the upper atmosphere and to observe
space weather events, and the initial development of the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), a
4-meter-aperture optical solar telescope—by far the largest in the world—that will provide the most highly
resolved measurements ever obtained of the Sun’s plasma and magnetic field. These new NSF facilities join
a broad range of existing ground-based assets that provide an essential global synoptic perspective and
complement space-based measurements of the solar and space physics system. With adequate science and
operations support, they will enable frontier research even as they add to the long-term record necessary
for analyzing space climate over solar cycles.
R1.0 Implement the DRIVE Initiative
The survey committee recommends implementation of a new, integrated, multiagency initiative (DRIVE—
Diversify, Realize, Integrate, Venture, Educate) that will develop more fully and employ more effectively
the many experimental and theoretical assets at NASA, NSF, and other agencies.
The DRIVE initiative encompasses specific, cost-effective augmentations to NASA and NSF heliophysics
programs. Its implementation will bring existing “enabling” programs to full fruition and will provide new
opportunities to realize scientific discoveries from existing data, build more comprehensive models, make
theoretical breakthroughs, and innovate. With this in mind, the committee has as its first priority for both
NASA and NSF—after completion of the current program—the implementation of an integrated, multiagency initiative comprising the following components:
3 In accordance with its statement of task, the survey committee did not reprioritize any NASA mission that was in formulation or
advanced development. In addition, the study charge specified that Solar Orbiter and Solar Probe Plus would not be included in any
prioritization of future mission opportunities.
Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society
SUMMARY
5
• The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS; Explorer program, 2013 launch) will deliver pioneering observations of chromospheric dynamics just above the solar surface to help determine their role
in the origin of the fluxes of heat and mass into the corona and wind.
• The Magnetospheric Multiscale mission (MMS; Solar-Terrestrial Probes (STP) program, 2014 launch)
will address the physics of magnetic reconnection at the previously inaccessible tiny scale where reconnection is triggered.
Compelling missions that are not yet in advanced stages of development but are part of a baseline
program whose continuation NASA asked the survey committee to assume include the following: 3
• Solar Orbiter (European Space Agency-NASA partnership, 2017 launch) will investigate links
between the solar surface, corona, and inner heliosphere from as close as 62 solar radii.
• Solar Probe Plus (SPP; LWS program, 2018 launch) will make mankind’s first visit to the solar corona
to discover how the corona is heated, how the solar wind is accelerated, and how the Sun accelerates
particles to high energy.
The powerful fleet of space missions that explore our local cosmos will be significantly strengthened with
the addition of these missions. However, their implementation as well as the rest of the baseline program
will consume nearly all of the resources anticipated to be available for new starts within NASA’s Heliophysics Division through the midpoint of the overall survey period, 2013-2022.
For NSF, the previous decade witnessed the initial deployment in Alaska of the Advanced Modular
Incoherent Scatter Radar (AMISR), a mobile facility used to study the upper atmosphere and to observe
space weather events, and the initial development of the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), a
4-meter-aperture optical solar telescope—by far the largest in the world—that will provide the most highly
resolved measurements ever obtained of the Sun’s plasma and magnetic field. These new NSF facilities join
a broad range of existing ground-based assets that provide an essential global synoptic perspective and
complement space-based measurements of the solar and space physics system. With adequate science and
operations support, they will enable frontier research even as they add to the long-term record necessary
for analyzing space climate over solar cycles.
R1.0 Implement the DRIVE Initiative
The survey committee recommends implementation of a new, integrated, multiagency initiative (DRIVE—
Diversify, Realize, Integrate, Venture, Educate) that will develop more fully and employ more effectively
the many experimental and theoretical assets at NASA, NSF, and other agencies.
The DRIVE initiative encompasses specific, cost-effective augmentations to NASA and NSF heliophysics
programs. Its implementation will bring existing “enabling” programs to full fruition and will provide new
opportunities to realize scientific discoveries from existing data, build more comprehensive models, make
theoretical breakthroughs, and innovate. With this in mind, the committee has as its first priority for both
NASA and NSF—after completion of the current program—the implementation of an integrated, multiagency initiative comprising the following components:
3 In accordance with its statement of task, the survey committee did not reprioritize any NASA mission that was in formulation or
advanced development. In addition, the study charge specified that Solar Orbiter and Solar Probe Plus would not be included in any
prioritization of future mission opportunities.