The Solar Probe Plus Mission: Humanity’s First Visit to Our Star

The Solar Probe Plus Mission: Humanity’s First Visit to Our Star

10 December 2014 / Accepted: 14 October 2015 / Published online: 11 November 2015 | N.J. Fox, M.C. Velli, S.D. Bale, R. Decker, A. Driesman, R.A. Howard, J.C. Kasper, J. Kinnison, M. Kusterer, D. Lario, M.K. Lockwood, D.J. McComas, N.E. Raouafi, A. Szabo
The Solar Probe Plus (SPP) mission is designed to be the first spacecraft to fly into the low solar corona, with the primary goal of understanding the structure and dynamics of the Sun's coronal magnetic field, the heating and acceleration of the solar corona and solar wind, and the processes that accelerate energetic particles. The mission, part of NASA's Living with a Star (LWS) Program, is scheduled for launch in mid-2018 and will perform 24 orbits over a 7-year nominal mission duration. SPP will use seven Venus gravity assists to gradually reduce its perihelion from 35 solar radii to less than 10 solar radii, allowing it to sample the solar wind in all its modalities as it evolves with rising solar activity. The mission will address key science questions by tracing the flow of energy that heats and accelerates the solar corona and solar wind, determining the structure and dynamics of the plasma and magnetic fields at the sources of the solar wind, and exploring mechanisms that accelerate and transport energetic particles. SPP's in-situ and remote sensing observations will provide valuable data on the solar magnetic field, plasma, and energetic particles, contributing to a better understanding of the Sun's coronal magnetic field, the heating and acceleration of the solar wind, and the acceleration and transport of energetic particles.The Solar Probe Plus (SPP) mission is designed to be the first spacecraft to fly into the low solar corona, with the primary goal of understanding the structure and dynamics of the Sun's coronal magnetic field, the heating and acceleration of the solar corona and solar wind, and the processes that accelerate energetic particles. The mission, part of NASA's Living with a Star (LWS) Program, is scheduled for launch in mid-2018 and will perform 24 orbits over a 7-year nominal mission duration. SPP will use seven Venus gravity assists to gradually reduce its perihelion from 35 solar radii to less than 10 solar radii, allowing it to sample the solar wind in all its modalities as it evolves with rising solar activity. The mission will address key science questions by tracing the flow of energy that heats and accelerates the solar corona and solar wind, determining the structure and dynamics of the plasma and magnetic fields at the sources of the solar wind, and exploring mechanisms that accelerate and transport energetic particles. SPP's in-situ and remote sensing observations will provide valuable data on the solar magnetic field, plasma, and energetic particles, contributing to a better understanding of the Sun's coronal magnetic field, the heating and acceleration of the solar wind, and the acceleration and transport of energetic particles.
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