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Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society
ENABLING DISCOVERY IN SOLAR AND SPACE PHYSICS
31
The Enabling Foundation
The enabling foundation for solar and space physics is common across its subdisciplines; it includes
theory, modeling, and data analysis; innovative platforms and technologies; and education. 8 The survey
committee found an immediate need to strengthen this foundation to garner maximum knowledge from
data being collected from space and from the ground. Further benefits include the introduction of new
innovative and cost-effective approaches to space exploration, and the generation and continued development of a world-leading science community.
This insight motivated the survey committee to amalgamate thrusts in these areas into a multiagency
initiative, labeled DRIVE—Diversify, Realize, Integrate, Venture, and Educate. The elements of DRIVE are
described in detail in Chapter 4, which also includes DRIVE-related recommendations, several of which
are designed to strengthen the enabling foundation. The DRIVE initiative encompasses specific augmentations to existing enabling programs. Its implementation will provide opportunities to realize scientific
discoveries from existing data, to build more comprehensive models, to make theoretical breakthroughs,
and to innovate.
Ground-Based Facilities
NSF ground-based solar and space physics facilities, which are managed within two of its divisions,
are key existing elements of the Heliophysics Systems Observatory. The Astronomy Division of the Mathematics and Physical Sciences Directorate manages the National Solar Observatory (NSO), with ongoing
synoptic observations and the ATST under construction. It is also the home of the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory, which includes solar observational capability. The Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences Division (AGS) of the Geosciences Directorate manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
and its High Altitude Observatory (HAO), which supports a broad range of research from the Sun to Earth
and operates the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory. AGS also supports the SuperDARN coherent-scatter radar
system and four large incoherent-scatter radar facilities including the Arecibo Radio Observatory, which
remains the largest-aperture telescope in the world for astrophysical, planetary, and atmospheric studies.
University-based observatories are also funded by both NSF and NASA.
When it begins operation in 2018, the 4-meter ATST will be, by far, the largest optical solar telescope
in the world. It will provide revolutionary measurements of the solar magnetism that controls energetic
mass eruptions and variability in the Sun’s output. ATST measurements at the currently unreachable small
size of density fluctuations will reveal how magnetic fields and mass interact at their fundamental size
scales. ATST will also provide the first measurements of magnetic fields low in the corona where mass and
energy are injected to form the heliosphere. It will be revolutionary in the capabilities it will provide to
measure the dynamics of the magnetic field at the solar surface down to the fundamental density length
scale. It will also be able to remotely sense coronal magnetic fields in locations where they have never
been measured. For full realization of its potential, ATST requires adequate, sustained funding from NSF
for operation, data analysis, development of advanced instrumentation, and research grant support for the
ATST user community. DRIVE “Realize” includes a recommendation for a significant increase in funding
allocation to properly operate and to realize the full and remarkable scientific potential of ATST.
Important ground-based research is also accomplished through midscale research projects that are
larger in scope than typical single principal-investigator (PI)-led projects (like those funded by NSF’s Major
Research Instrumentation line) and smaller than facilities (such as those developed under NSF’s Major
8 See National Research Council, An Enabling Foundation for NASA’s Space and Earth Science Missions, The National Academies
Press, Washington, D.C., 2010.
Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society
ENABLING DISCOVERY IN SOLAR AND SPACE PHYSICS
31
The Enabling Foundation
The enabling foundation for solar and space physics is common across its subdisciplines; it includes
theory, modeling, and data analysis; innovative platforms and technologies; and education. 8 The survey
committee found an immediate need to strengthen this foundation to garner maximum knowledge from
data being collected from space and from the ground. Further benefits include the introduction of new
innovative and cost-effective approaches to space exploration, and the generation and continued development of a world-leading science community.
This insight motivated the survey committee to amalgamate thrusts in these areas into a multiagency
initiative, labeled DRIVE—Diversify, Realize, Integrate, Venture, and Educate. The elements of DRIVE are
described in detail in Chapter 4, which also includes DRIVE-related recommendations, several of which
are designed to strengthen the enabling foundation. The DRIVE initiative encompasses specific augmentations to existing enabling programs. Its implementation will provide opportunities to realize scientific
discoveries from existing data, to build more comprehensive models, to make theoretical breakthroughs,
and to innovate.
Ground-Based Facilities
NSF ground-based solar and space physics facilities, which are managed within two of its divisions,
are key existing elements of the Heliophysics Systems Observatory. The Astronomy Division of the Mathematics and Physical Sciences Directorate manages the National Solar Observatory (NSO), with ongoing
synoptic observations and the ATST under construction. It is also the home of the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory, which includes solar observational capability. The Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences Division (AGS) of the Geosciences Directorate manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
and its High Altitude Observatory (HAO), which supports a broad range of research from the Sun to Earth
and operates the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory. AGS also supports the SuperDARN coherent-scatter radar
system and four large incoherent-scatter radar facilities including the Arecibo Radio Observatory, which
remains the largest-aperture telescope in the world for astrophysical, planetary, and atmospheric studies.
University-based observatories are also funded by both NSF and NASA.
When it begins operation in 2018, the 4-meter ATST will be, by far, the largest optical solar telescope
in the world. It will provide revolutionary measurements of the solar magnetism that controls energetic
mass eruptions and variability in the Sun’s output. ATST measurements at the currently unreachable small
size of density fluctuations will reveal how magnetic fields and mass interact at their fundamental size
scales. ATST will also provide the first measurements of magnetic fields low in the corona where mass and
energy are injected to form the heliosphere. It will be revolutionary in the capabilities it will provide to
measure the dynamics of the magnetic field at the solar surface down to the fundamental density length
scale. It will also be able to remotely sense coronal magnetic fields in locations where they have never
been measured. For full realization of its potential, ATST requires adequate, sustained funding from NSF
for operation, data analysis, development of advanced instrumentation, and research grant support for the
ATST user community. DRIVE “Realize” includes a recommendation for a significant increase in funding
allocation to properly operate and to realize the full and remarkable scientific potential of ATST.
Important ground-based research is also accomplished through midscale research projects that are
larger in scope than typical single principal-investigator (PI)-led projects (like those funded by NSF’s Major
Research Instrumentation line) and smaller than facilities (such as those developed under NSF’s Major
8 See National Research Council, An Enabling Foundation for NASA’s Space and Earth Science Missions, The National Academies
Press, Washington, D.C., 2010.