WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA has selected
two proposals for concept studies that could help us better
understand the fundamental nature of space and how it changes in
response to planetary atmospheres, radiation from the Sun, and
interstellar particles. The proposals will advance NASA's
heliophysics program and could lead to better protection for
both technology and humans as we travel farther from home.
Each of these Heliophysics Science Mission of Opportunity
proposals will receive $400,000 to
conduct a nine-month mission concept study. After the studies,
NASA will choose one proposal to launch as a secondary payload on
the agency's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe
(IMAP).
The proposals were selected based on potential science value and
feasibility of development plans. Total cost of this Mission of
Opportunity is capped at $75 million
and is funded by NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program.
The selected proposals are:
Spatial/Spectral Imaging of Heliospheric Lyman Alpha
(SIHLA)
SIHLA would map the entire sky to determine the
shape and underlying mechanisms of the boundary between the
heliosphere, the area of our Sun's magnetic influence, and the
interstellar medium, a boundary known as the heliopause. The
observations would gather far-ultraviolet light emitted from
hydrogen atoms. This wavelength is key for examining many
astrophysical phenomena, including planetary atmospheres and
comets, because so much of the universe is composed of hydrogen.
SIHLA will focus on mapping the velocity and distribution of the
solar wind – the outpouring of particles from the Sun – helping to
resolve our understanding of what drives structure in the solar
wind and heliopause. This is an area of research undergoing rapid
evolution due to data from NASA missions, such as Voyager, Parker
Solar Probe and Interstellar Boundary Explorer.
The principal investigator for SIHLA is Larry Paxton at the Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in
Laurel, Maryland.
Global Lyman-alpha Imagers of the Dynamic Exosphere
(GLIDE)
The GLIDE mission would study variability in
Earth's exosphere, the uppermost region of its atmosphere, by
tracking far ultraviolet light emitted from hydrogen. The proposed
mission would fill an existing measurement gap, as only a handful
of such images previously have been made from outside the
exosphere. The mission would gather observations at a high rate,
with a view of the entire exosphere, ensuring a truly global and
comprehensive set of data. Understanding the ways in which Earth's
exosphere changes in response to influences of the Sun above or the
atmosphere below, would provide us with better ways to forecast
and, ultimately, mitigate the ways in which space weather can
interfere with radio communications in space.
The principal investigator for GLIDE is Lara Waldrop at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.
IMAP currently is scheduled to launch in October 2024 to orbit a point between Earth and
the Sun known as the first Lagrangian point, or L1. From there,
IMAP will help researchers better understand the interstellar
boundary region, where particles from the Sun collide with material
from the rest of the galaxy. This distant area controls the amount
of harmful cosmic radiation entering the heliosphere, the magnetic
bubble that shields our solar system from charged particles
surrounding it. Cosmic rays from the galaxy and beyond affect
astronauts and can harm technological systems. They also may play a
role in the presence of life in the universe.
From the start of IMAP mission formulation, NASA's Science
Mission Directorate (SMD) planned to include secondary spacecraft
on the launch under the agency's new SMD Rideshare Initiative,
which cuts costs by sending multiple missions on a single
launch. This launch will also include a Heliophysics
Technology Demonstration Mission of Opportunity – which will be
announced separately – to test technologies that can enable future
science missions, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Follow-On mission, which will
expand that agency's space weather forecasting capabilities.
"Launching missions together like this is a great way to ensure
maximum science return while keeping costs low," said Peg Luce, deputy director of NASA's Heliophysics
Division. "We carefully select new heliophysics spacecraft to
complement the well-placed spacecraft NASA has in orbit to study
this vast solar wind system – and our rideshare initiative
increases our opportunities to send such key missions into
space."
For information about NASA and space science, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/sunearth
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