Solar Orbiter's Science Activity Plan: Translating Questions into Action
Abstract
Solar Orbiter is a mission, scheduled for launch in February 2020, with as main goal to observe solar activity from close by, both in and out of the ecliptic, and to link it to the solar wind as sensed by its in-situ sensors. The payload consists of 6 remote-sensing and 4 in-situ instrument suites, which will have to coordinate their operations in order to address the four mission objectives: (1) What drives the solar wind and where does the heliospheric magnetic field originate? (2) How do solar transients drive heliospheric variability? (3) How do solar eruptions produce energetic particle radiation that fills the heliosphere? (4) How does the solar dynamo work and drive connections between the Sun and the heliosphere? We have to consider, however, that each orbit around the Sun has different characteristics, including the relative positions of the Earth and spacecraft (affecting downlink rates and communications blackouts), trajectory events (such as gravitational assist manoeuvres), and the phase of the solar activity cycle. Furthermore, each orbit's science telemetry will be downloaded during the next, so orbits cannot be planned individually. So how will those science questions be translated into an actual plan of observations that will fit into the mission? First, the component questions are broken down into answerable questions along with the observations they need from the payload. Then, in order to address this, the so-called Science Activity Plan (SAP) has been developed. The SAP groups together objectives that require similar observations into Solar Orbiter Observing Plans (SOOPs), resulting in a strategic, top-level view of the optimal opportunities for science observations across the mission lifetime, allowing all four mission objectives to be addressed. In this presentation, we introduce Solar Orbiter's SAP through a series of examples and the strategy being followed.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMSH21D3315Z
- Keywords:
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- 7594 Instruments and techniques;
- SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY;
- 7599 General or miscellaneous;
- SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY;
- 7894 Instruments and techniques;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS;
- 7899 General or miscellaneous;
- SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS