PILOT (Plasma Imaging, LOcal measurement, and Tomographic experiment): a mission concept for ground-breaking system-science observations of mass and energy flow through Earth's magnetosphere

The fundamental processes that govern plasma mass and energy flow through the terrestrial magnetosphere, and the degree to which these flows regulate key magnetospheric subsystems, remain unknown. This critical heliophysics problem is a persistent knowledge gap that is key for understanding Earth's atmospheric loss rate, as well as for determining the importance of a planetary magnetic field for atmospheric retention, and therefore habitability, of Earth-like planets beyond the solar system.

The Plasma Imaging LOcal and Tomographic experiment (PILOT) mission concept uses a constellation of spacecraft to provide the transformational system-science observations needed to determine the primary pathways of mass and energy flow through the coupled systems of the terrestrial magnetosphere. PILOT achieves this goal by combining (i) rapidly-refreshing radio tomographic total plasma density images (ii) EUV imaging of He+ and O+, (iii) and embedded in-situ observations of cold ions, electromagnetic fields and plasma waves.

In this talk, we describe the science motivation for, and a technical implementation of, the PILOT mission concept, including: a core science goal, objectives, and specific science questions, spacecraft bus design, instrumentation, orbital dynamics, launch strategy, enabling technologies, and simulated observations.

The last decade saw advances in spacecraft manufacturing capability, instrument miniaturization, as well as in the launch and deployment of large spacecraft constellations. In the next decade, we can leverage these new capabilities to produce transformational constellation observations capable of resolving one of Heliophysics's most massive problems: determining the fundamental physics of mass and energy flow through a planetary magnetosphere and the degree to which these flows regulate magnetospheric subsystems.