The Solar Orbiter mission Ester Antonucci INAF OsservatorioAstronomicodi Torino

Transcription

1 The Solar Orbiter mission Ester Antonucci INAF OsservatorioAstronomicodi Torino XCVII CongressoNazionaledella SIF L Aquila Settembre 2011

2 a mission to fully understand how the Sun creates and controls the heliosphere a powerful screen to host a planet with life

3 The Sun s magnetic fields creates and structures the hot corona SDO-NASA (launch 2010) The Sun s magnetic field is responsible for the structure and dynamics ofthe outer atmosphere plays a fundamental role in coronal heating (T>10⁶ K) guides the solarwindalong the open fieldlines non-potentialmagneticfields are the source ofavailableenergyforsolaractivity: flares and coronal mass ejections Ulysses ESA-NASA ( ) The hot corona creates the heliosphere

4 Magnetic activity perturbs the solar wind and modulates the heliospheric conditions SOHO ESA-NASA ( ) coronagraphs

5 Solar Orbiter is designed to optimize the investigation of the link between the Sun and the interplanetary medium photosphericmagnetic field cyclecoronal soft X-ray emission cycle solar &heliospheric magnetic field correlation

6 ESA Solar &HeliosphericProbes Scenario Helios I & II (ESA)70s Explored the distance range AU, closest to date, in-situ only Ulysses (ESA NASA) First direct observations of the polar heliosphere, AU, in situ only Solar and Heliospheric Observatory SOHO (ESA-NASA ) 1995 Uninterrupted observation of the Sun from L1: remote sensing & in situ For the first time a star couldbestudiedfromitsdeepinterior, via helioseismology, to the cavitycointaining the solarwind

7 SOHO L1

8 Solar Orbiter top level scientific objectives How does the solar dynamo work and drive connections between the Sun and the heliopshere? How and where do the solar wind plasma and magnetic field originate in the corona? How do solar transients drive heliospheric variability? How do solar eruptions produce energetic particle radiation that fills the heliosphere?

9 Solar Orbiter in Horizon 2000 plus 1996 SOHO scientific operations start successfully, and 1998/ Highly innovative mission concept develops out of the ecliptic spectroscopy, imaging, in situ close to the Sun remote sensing of the polar regions of the Sun

10 Perihelion Observations High latitude Observations High latitude Observations Mission Summary Launch date: 2017 Nominal Mission: Extended Mission: Orbit: Out of Ecliptic View: of the >25 (nominal mission) >34 (extended mission) Co-rotation: orbit 7.5 years 2.4 years Elliptical orbit 0.28 AU (minimum perihelion) 1.2 AU (aphelion) multiple gravity assists with Venus to increase inclination ou ecliptic to 2 periods of near-synchronization with the Sun s rotation pe

11 Heating processes in the solar atmosphere act on the small-scale (below present resolution)

12 Unprocessed structures can be probed close to the Sun

13 The solar dynamo operates in the depths of the convection zone, where an oscillating magnetic field is maintained by plasma motions. What is the role of the global dynamo vsthe local dynamo (the latter presumably acting in generating the weak, small-scale field)? Structure and dynamics of the polar convection zone not yet probed via helio-seismology.

14 How are flows, transporting magnetic fields, characterized at all latitudes, from the decaying active regions to the poles (meridional flows, near surface flows, differential rotation, torsional oscillations)? Dynamics of the polar flows not yet probed via imaging and spectroscopic means.

15 The fast solar wind (800 km s -1 ) emerges from polar coronal holes. Is the source of fast wind associated with strong super-granular magnetic fields in coronal holes? How do the structures observed in the low corona evolve into the solar wind (e. g. plumes)? Is the source of the solar wind steady or intermittent (e.g. transient reconnection generated jets)? The fast wind sources at the base of polar holes, probably organized by the convective super-granulation,areelusive due to projection effects.

16 How does the geometry of the magnetic field expansion in the corona, from the photosphere out to a few solar radii affect the solar wind speed and its composition? Fast wind:associatedwith divergent flux tubes. Slow wind:associatedwith divergent-convergent flux tubes The slow wind source at the periphery of polar holes during solar minimum are elusive due to projection effects.

17 Access to the longitudinal structure of the corona and coronal mass ejections. Polar observation of the halo coronal mass ejections (they impact with the Earth magnetosphere thus including geo-effectiveevents.)

18 Remote sensing: due to solar rotation the corona at the limb is not observable for more than 2-3 days. Freezing the corona at the limb in quasi-corotation allows the observation of the magnetic field evolution prior to coronal mass ejections and thus the identification of the physical process originating them. How the magnetic field evolves in the CME pre-eruption phase? How the equilibrium between the magnetic tension of the overlying fields, or weight of overlying mass, exerting a down force and the upper pressure (e.g. strongly sheared magnetic fields) is disrupted?

19 Remote sensing Persistent coherent structures predominantly found in the slow wind. Quasi-corotation allows to distinguish corotating structures/embedded flux tubes (spatial scale 3 x 10 4 km consistent with photospheric supergranulation scale) from density inhomogeneities carried by the wind.

20 In situ plasma measurements: corotation allows to: disentagle the intrinsic evolution of the plasma and solar rotation effects and link the plasma parameters to the evolution of the solar source.

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22 Solar Orbiter in Horizon 2000 plus selection by SPC as Flexi Mission, in Oct. for launch 2008/ payload selection, in March integration into the Cosmic Vision as an M-mission candidate for launch in fast-track approach with re-use of Bepi-Colombo technologies, launch spacecraft industrial phase B2 kick off in February 2011 spacecraft System Requirements Review successfully completed in July 2011 October 4 SPC selection of M1-M2

23 Investigation Collaboration Measurement Solar Wind Analyzer (SWA) PI C. Owen, UK Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) J. Rodríguez-Pacheco, Spain Magnetometer (MAG) T. Horbury, UK Radio & Plasma Waves (RPW) M. Maksimovic, France Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) S. Solanki, Germany EUV Imager (EUI) P. Rochus, Belgium Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) D. Hassler, USA X-ray Spectrometer Telescope (STIX) A. Benz, Switzerland Coronagraph (METIS) E. Antonucci, Italy Heliospheric Imager (SolOHI) R. Howard, USA UK, I, F, Japan, D, CH, USA Spain, D, FI, GR, CH, F, Slovakia, USA UK, A, I, H, D, F, E, DK, USA France, SE, CZ, NO, UK, A, D, GR, AU, I, H, FI, Russia Germany, E, F, SE, NO, CH, AU, USA Belgium, UK, F, D, USA USA, UK, D, F, N Switzerland, PL, D, CZ, IRE, A, UK, F, USA Italy, CK,F, D, GR, USA USA, Belgium, UK, Germany SW ion & electron bulk properties, ion composition (1eV- 5 kev electrons; kev/q ions) Composition, timing, distribution functions of suprathermal - energetic particles DC vector magnetic fields (0 64 Hz) AC electric and magnetic fields (~DC 20 MHz) Vector magnetic field and line-of-sight velocity in the photosphere Full-disk EUV and high-resolution EUV and Lyman-α imaging of the solar atmosphere EUV spectroscopy of the solar disk and corona Solar thermal and non-thermal x-ray emission (4 150 kev) Visible, UV and EUV imaging of the solar corona White-light imaging of the extended corona

24 CNR 7% UNI 36% INAF 48% INAF Ass 9% N=92

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26 STIX: Spectrometer-TelescopeforImagingX-rays Co-Is: Anna Maria Massone CNR Genova Michele PianaUniversitàdiGenova Metodidiinversionedeglispettri X-duri kev per derivareglispettrideglielettroniacceleratiduranteibrillamenti solari

27 SWA R. Bruno 1, P. Baldetti 1, B. Bavassano 1, M.B. Cattaneo 1, G. Consolini 1, R. D'Amicis 1, M.F. Marcucci 1, G. Pallocchia 1, E. Pietropaolo 2, V. Carbone 3, L. Sorriso-Valvo 4 A.M. Di Lellis 5 (1) INAF-Istituto Fisica Spazio Interplanetario, Rome, Italy, (2) Dpt. Fisica, Università di L'Aquila, Coppito (Aq), Italy, (3) Dpt. Fisica, Università della Calabria, Rende (Cs), Italy, (4) LICRYL - INFM/CNR, Rende (Cs), Italy (5) AMDL s.r.l., Roma, Italy (SubcontractorThales Alenia Space, To) INAF-IFSI, Roma, provides the SWA DPU and collaborateswith SWRI, US to design the instrumenttomeasureprotons and He (PAS) Co-PI (R. Bruno)

28 International Consortium under responsibility of INAF OATo Leading Funding Agency: ASI Industrial Partners: Thales Alenia, Selex Galileo Experiment Manager: G. Naletto, University of Padua Experiment Scientist: S. Fineschi, INAF OATo, Turin Instrument Scientist: M. Romoli, University of Florence Science Team Coordinator: Daniele Spadaro, INAF-OACt INAF Institutes: OAC, OACt, OARm, OAPa, OATo, OATs, IFSI-Rm Universities of Florence, Padua, Pavia, Catania, Politecnico of Turin Max Planck Institut (MPS) Lindau, G Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Science (ASU-CAS), Czech Republic Institute d AstrophysiqueSpatiale (IAS), F Laboratoired Astrophysique de Marseille, F Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), US University of Athens, Gr

29 UVCS UVCS spectrometer at TAS (Turin ) Coronagraph introducing UV spectroscopy of the outer corona >1.5 R Diagnostics: Doppler dimming techniques

30 How energy is deposited in coronal holes & solar wind What are the source regions of the slow solar wind Which is the role of the He component in corona and solar wind How the global corona evolves and solar transients originate How shock fronts accelerate particles in the solar corona

31 Is the ion-cyclotron resonance of highνalfvén waves responsible for wind acceleration (large anisotropic kinetic temperatures 10 8 K - of O 5+ in the outer corona)? fast In the solar wind speed and composition regulated by the magnetic topology? slow Are coronal density fluctuations corotating structures? Inhomogeneities carried by the wind? Are energetic particles accelerated in the corona by CME related shock waves? How equiliobrium is disrupted in CMEs? Abbo et al Telloni et al. Bemporadet al. Mancuso et al.

32 Fullycharacterizethe dynamics and composition of themajorplasmacomponents (e -, H, He) in the corona and solar wind acceleration sites He second component of the atmosphere highly variable in the heliosphere, its composition scarcely measured in the atmosphere He high FIP element (T), wave-particle interaction (Z/A), influenced by magnetic topology/divergence (v outflow) Density/abundancemapsH, He, e OutflowvelocitymapsofH, He VelocitydistributionofH, He

33 Externally occulted coronagraph designed for: broad-band imaging - polarized VL K-corona narrow-band imaging - UV corona (HI Ly, 1216 Å) narrow-band imaging - EUV corona (HeIILy, 30.4 Å) annular FOV: R at min perihelion 0.28 AU spectro-imaging - HI, HeII lines 32 coronal sector (3 FOV) in UV/ EUV Simultaneous UV, VL coronalimages 33

34 Reflectivity [%] SiC/Mg Multilayer w. Vis. & UV Cap-Layer UV mode: a multilayer filter reflects VL and transmits UV HI line, absorbing the EUV light. VL and UV channels work simultaneously nm nm nm Wavelength [nm] EUV mode: a multilayer filter is replaced by a low-pass Al filter that transmits the EUV HeII line. The VL channel is not operative.

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37 Thanks

38 Movie How energy is deposited in coronal holes & solar wind What are the source regions of the slow solar wind Which is the role of the He component in corona and solar wind How the global corona evolves and solar transients originate