Nicola J. Fox

The FIELDS Instrument Suite for Solar Probe Plus

NASA’s Solar Probe Plus (SPP) mission will make the first in situ measurements of the solar corona and the birthplace of the solar wind. The FIELDS instrument suite on SPP will make direct measurements of electric and magnetic fields, the properties of in situ plasma waves, electron density and temperature profiles, and interplanetary radio emissions, amongst other things. Here, we describe the scientific objectives targeted by the SPP/FIELDS instrument, the instrument design itself, and the instrument concept of operations and planned data products.

Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission overview

The Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission is part of NASAs Living With a Star Program, and is scheduled to launch in September, 2012. The fundamental goal of the mission is to provide an understanding, ideally to the point of predictability, of how populations of relativistic electrons and penetrating ions in space form or change in response to variable inputs of energy from the Sun. The mission consists of two nearly-identical spacecraft launched into highly-elliptical Earth orbits, as well as the ground and data systems necessary to return and distribute science and housekeeping data and provide command and control of the space systems. The two spacecraft are launched aboard a single Atlas V 401 launch vehicle, and are placed in orbits that cause one spacecraft to lap the other approximately four times per year. This mission design enables an investigation of both spatial and temporal effects within the radiation belts using only two spacecraft, and the two year science mission will allow an investigation of all local time positions and interaction regions. Each spacecraft contains a suite of instruments to study ions, electrons and the local magnetic and electric fields. An overview of the RBSP mission will be presented, beginning with the science basis and goals for the mission. The driving mission requirements will be presented, and the unique engineering challenges of operating in the radiation belts will be discussed in detail. The implementation of both the space and ground segments will be presented, including a discussion of the challenges inherent with operating multiple spacecraft concurrently and working with a distributed network of science operation centers. The RBSP mission will enable characterization of the fundamental physics that drive the formation and evolution of the Earths.

Solar Probe Plus: A mission to touch the sun

Solar Probe Plus (SPP), currently in Phase B, will be the first mission to fly into the low solar corona, revealing how the corona is heated and the solar wind is accelerated, solving two fundamental mysteries that have been top priority science goals since such a mission was first proposed in 1958. The scale and concept of such a mission has been revised at intervals since that time, yet the core has always been a close encounter with the Sun. SPP uses an innovative mission design, significant technology development and a risk-reducing engineering development to meet the SPP science objectives: 1) determine the structure and dynamics of the magnetic fields at the sources of the fast and slow solar wind, 2) trace the flow of energy that heats the corona and accelerates the solar wind. and 3) determine what mechanisms accelerate and transport energetic particles. In this paper, we present the Solar Probe Plus mission along with a brief comparison with some previous concepts for such a mission, and discuss the trade studies that led to the SPP implementation. We present a summary of the challenges associated with operation in the solar encounter environment and discuss the technology development and engineering trade studies to compose a mission that will not only survive this environment, but will provide the data needed to answer the science questions that have remained unanswered to date.