NASA | GSFC | Heliophysics | 2017 Jul 28
NASA has selected nine proposals under its Explorers Program that will return transformational science about the Sun and space environment and fill science gaps between the agency’s larger missions; eight for focused scientific investigations and one for technological development of instrumentation.
The broad scope of the investigations illustrates the many vital and specialized research areas that must be explored simultaneously in the area of heliophysics, which is the study of how the Sun affects space and the space environment of planets. ...
Each Heliophysics Small Explorer mission will receive $1.25 million to conduct an 11-month mission concept study. The selected proposals are:
Each Mission of Opportunity (SCM) will receive $400,000 to conduct an 11-month mission concept study. The selected proposals are:
- Mechanisms of Energetic Mass Ejection – eXplorer (MEME-X)
Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI)
Multi-Slit Solar Explorer (MUSE)
Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS)
Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH)
A Partner Mission of Opportunity (PMO) proposal has been selected for components and scientific analysis for three in situ payload instruments aboard the Turbulence Heating ObserveR (THOR) mission – one of four proposed missions currently under consideration by ESA (European Space Agency). After ESA’s final selection, work will begin on implementation of the PMO only if THOR is selected. The chosen PMO is:
- Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE)
Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE)
One Mission of Opportunity SCM received highly favorable review for scientific and scientific implementation merit, but was deemed to require more technological development of the instrument’s innovative optical design before further consideration of an implementation concept. This proposal is offered funding for a continued technology development study. The SCM chosen for a technology development investigation is:
- U.S. Contributions to the THOR mission (THOR-US)
- COronal Spectrographic Imager in the Extreme ultraviolet (COSIE)