Solar OrbiterExploring the Sun-Heliosphere Connection

V. Martínez PilletInstituto de Astrofísica de Canarias &

Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial

A high-resolution mission to the Sun and inner heliosphere

Call for Mission Proposals for Flexi-missions (F2 and F3)

Letters of intent to the Executive by 22 October 1999,

Paris

UNESCO

2000

Assessment Study Report

July 2000

SCI(2000)6

HORIZONS 2000Expenditure profile versus Income forecast

Proposal for C-MIN 2001

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100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

95 96 97 98 99 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

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Basic activities

IUE, HST, Ulysses,Hipparcos

HST Extension

ISO

STSPCLUSTER Recovery

Huygens

XMM - NEWTON

INTEGRAL

SMART-1

ROSETTA

MARS EXPRESS

Mission extensions

HERSCHEL/PLANCK

Original DG proposal for C-MIN 2001

SMART2120 Meuro

BEPICOLOMBO

2009

NGST 2010

GAIA APR 2010

LISA 2010

SO 2011

FUTUREMISSIONS

F 2005

F 2008

SMART3

F4 2013

CS8 2013

STEPLatest proposal for C-MIN 2001

ESA’ science program has been immersed in budgetary problems in the past decade

SOLAR ORBITER forced into competition in the CV pro gram

• Determine the properties, dynamics and interactions of plasma, fields and particles in the near-Sun heliosphere

• Investigate the links between the solar surface, corona and inner heliosphere

• Explore, at all latitudes, the energetics, dynamics and fine-scale structure of the Sun’s magnetized atmosphere

• Probe the solar dynamo by observing the Sun’s high latitude field, flows and seismic waves

Solar Orbiteroriginal science goals

3 Workshops

Solar Orbiter Mission OverviewMission SummaryLaunch date: January 2017

Nominal Mission: 7.5 years

Extended Mission: 2.4 years

Orbit: Elliptial orbit

0.23 – 0.29 AU (perihelion)

0.75 - 1.2 AU (aphelion)

Out of Ecliptic View: multiple gravity assists with Venus to increase inclination

out of the ecliptic to >25 deg (nominal mission) >34 deg during the extended mission

Co-rotation: 2 periods of near-synchronization with the Sun’s rotation

per orbit, allowing observations of evolving structures on the solar surface &

heliosphere for almost a complete solar rotation

Perihelion Observations

High latitude Observations

High latitude Observations

Science payload

Instruments have already been selected in a competiti ve process in response to AOs issued by ESA and NASA .

• 2007/8• Resource-efficient instrumentation• The selected proposals are ensured being funded by the

national European space agencies and NASA• The 10 principal-investigator-lead hardware investigations

on Solar Orbiter include - 6 Remote-sensing solar instruments- 4 In-situ measuring heliospheric instruments

Mass 180 kg, power 180 W, telemetry 110 kbps

White-light imaging of the extended coronaHeliospheric Imager (SolOHI)

Visible, UV and EUV imaging of the solar coronaCoronagraph (METIS/COR)

Solar thermal and non-thermal X-ray emission (4 – 1 50 keV)X-ray Spectrometer Telescope (STIX)

EUV spectroscopy of the solar disk and coronaSpectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE)

Full-disk EUV and high-resolution EUV and Lyman- α imaging of the solar atmosphere

EUV Imager (EUI)

Vector magnetic field and line-of-sight velocity in the photosphere

Polarimetric and HelioseismicImager (PHI)

AC electric and magnetic fields (~DC – 20 MHz)Radio & Plasma Waves (RPW)

DC vector magnetic fields (0 – 64 Hz)Magnetometer (MAG)

Composition, timing, and distribution functions of suprathermal and energetic particles (8 keV/n – 200 Me V/nions; 20-700 keV electrons)

Energetic Particle Detector (EPD)

Solar wind ion and electron bulk properties, ion co mposition (1eV- 5 keV electrons; 0.2 - 100 keV/q ions)

Solar Wind Analyzer (SWA)

MeasurementsInvestigation

Solar Orbiter, launch 2017ESA, perihelion 48 Rs

Solar Probe Plus, launch 2018NASA, perihelion 9.5 Rs

• In-situ measurements• Remote-sensing observations• Views on Sun‘s poles (< 34°)• Corotation (>3°/d) observations