NASA recently picked up two new science missions, namely the Multi-Slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) and the HelioSwarm, with a view to better understanding the kinetics of the Sun, the Sun-Earth relation, and the ever-changing space environment. The missions are aimed at providing further understanding of our universe and providing necessary data so that the astronauts, satellites, and communication signals like GPS can be protected.
Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for science at the NASA Headquarters in Washington said that the MUSE and HelioSwarm will provide a new and more profound understanding of the solar atmosphere and space weather. The missions do not just broaden the study of our other heliophysics missions, but they also give a new and different aspect and a first of its kind way to understand the secrets of our star.
Sun Mission: MUSE
The MUSE mission intends to assist the researchers in understanding the forces that are responsible for the heating of the Sun’s corona and the eruptions in the outermost region that form the base of the space weather. The mission will also offer further understanding into the physics of the solar troposphere by utilizing a strong instrument known as a multi-slit spectrometer to examine the acute ultraviolet emissions of the Sun and secure the high definition pictures that have ever been taken of the solar transition region and the corona.
The mission will also give corresponding observations from heliophysics exploration, for example, the Extreme UltraViolet Spectroscopic Telescope and the ground-based observatories.
Nicola Fox, the overseer of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters said that the MUSE will assist in filling the decisive gaps in the information relating to the Sun-Earth association. It will help the scientists by furnishing further understanding into the weather of the space and supplements multiple different missions within the heliophysics mission squadron.
The main objective of the MUSE mission is to research the reasons for the heating of the Sun’s corona and its instability, for example, flares and coronal mass discharges, and gain an understanding of the fundamental plasma effects of the corona. The MUSE will also get high-resolution pictures of the expansion of solar flare strips in a field of view zeroed in on an enormous, dynamic area on the Sun.
Bart DePontieu of the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center (LMATC) of Palo Alto, California is the lead investigator for the MUSE mission. The budget for this mission has been fixed at USD 192 million. The project management will be undertaken by Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center.
Sun Mission: HelioSwarm
The HelioSwarm mission is an assemblage or “swarm” of nine spacecraft that will acquire the first multiscale in-space estimations of variations in the magnetic field and the movements of the solar wind known as solar wind turbulence. The atmospheric layer on the Sun’s surface, the heliosphere, includes a colossal area of the solar system. Solar winds spread through the heliosphere, and their interactions with planetary magnetospheres and disturbances, such as coronal mass eruptions influence their turbulence.
Reading solar wind turbulence across huge areas requires plasma measurements taken concurrently from multiple varying points in space. Helioswarm comprises of one central spacecraft and 8 circling small satellites that vary in distance from one another and the central spacecraft. The central spacecraft will connect with each of the small satellites through the radio. Radio contacts between the swarm and the earth will be undertaken through the central spacecraft and the NASA Deep Space Network of spacecraft communication antennas.
Harlan Spence from the University of New Hampshire is the principal investigator of the HelioSwarm mission. The mission’s total allocated budget is USD 250 million. The project management capability will be provided by NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California.
Funding and management oversight for these missions is provided by the Heliophysics Explorers Program, managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
