PreMevE: A Machine-learning Based Predictive Model for MeV Electrons inside Earth’s Outer Radiation Belt
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Heliospheric and Magnetospheric Physics↗
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A model for coronal streamer observations using the SOHO coronagraph instrumentation
The SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) coronagraphs will offer an unprecedented opportunity to observe coronal streamer material and determine its outward motion. The inner C1 and C2 coronagraphs should enable ready identification of coronal streamers and their surface manifestations. The outer C3 coronagraph should be able to trace streamers to nearly interplanetary distances from the Sun. Using a modeling program designed to determine parameters from co-rotating heliospheric material viewed by the Helios spacecraft, the locations in position angle and distance from the Sun of several modeled streamers are shown. These models demonstrate the expected differences in streamer location when different assumptions are used for the outward acceleration of the streamer material.
Jackson, Bernard V.↗
Radio noise in the heliospheric cavity
The LF radio emission of the heliospheric cavity is discussed, summarizing Voyager measurement data. The solar wind is considered to be the outer layer of the solar atmosphere, and its interaction with the interstellar medium is examined in detail. Typical data are presented graphically, and theoretical models proposed to explain the emission are reviewed. It is suggested that the emission may originate at the terminal shock or heliopause, thus providing a means of estimating its location.
Kurth, W. S.↗
The Multiview Observatory for Solar Terrestrial Science (MOST)
Understanding the emergence of magnetic flux from the solar interior through the photosphere and its global impact on the inner heliosphere is a key scientific goal of the heliophysics community. This white paper outlines the concept of the Multiview Observatory for Solar Terrestrial Science (MOST) mission, which will make measurements of solar variability from the solar interior, atmosphere, and the interplanetary (IP) medium. MOST will be a 4- spacecraft mission with one each at L4 (MOST1) and L5 (MOST2) and the other two (MOST3 and MOST4) at variable locations along Earth orbit. MOST1 and MOST2 will each carry seven remote-sensing and 3 in-situ instruments. All four spacecraft will carry a novel radio package known as the Faraday Effect Tracker of Coronal and Heliospheric structures (FETCH) that will systematically probe the magnetic content of transient IP structures including coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and stream interaction regions (SIRs). The Faraday rotation measurements will provide magnetic content of these structures at various heliocentric distances from the outer corona to Earth’s vicinity. Photospheric and/or chromospheric magnetograms will cover >70% of the solar surface providing synchronic maps needed for accurately modeling the corona and solar wind. EUV, coronagraph, radio spectrograph, and heliospheric imager (HI) observations from multiple viewpoints provide 3-d information on CMEs/CME-driven shocks, SIRs, and other solar wind structures. Hard X-ray imagers will provide the flare aspects of solar eruptions to complement the CME aspects. MOST, a 10-year mission, is well aligned with NASA’s Heliophysics objectives and will provide an unprecedented opportunity to achieve these objectives with broad participation from the heliophysics community.
N. Gopalswamy↗
The Solar Probe mission
The Solar Probe will deliver a 133.5 kg science payload into a 4 R(S) perihelion solar polar orbit to explore in situ one of the last frontiers in the solar system - the solar corona. Using a payload of 12 scientific experiments, it will be possible to answer many long-standing fundamental problems concerning the structure and dynamics of the outer solar atmosphere, including the acceleration, storage, and transport of energetic particles near the sun and in the inner heliosphere.
Anderson, J.↗
Testing theories of Gravitation with the Interstellar Probe Radio Experiment
General Relativity (GR) will soon celebrate its 110th birthday, holding up against all experimental enquiry. Nonetheless, unification theories attempting to quantize gravity, such as string theory, are gaining footing. These hypothesize additional scalar, vector, and tensor long-range fields that couple to matter (Will, 2014), introducing violations to GR. Although such violations have never been detected, it is likely that GR will not be the ultimate theory of gravity. What is certain is that gravity tests are alive and well, pushing the validity of GR to new scales and accuracies, or -potentially- suggesting alternative routes for new physics. Building upon the legacy of Voyager and Pioneer missions, which demonstrated the capability to survive in the outer reaches of the solar system, the Interstellar Probe mission concept (McNutt et al., 2022) aims to characterise our heliosphere through state-of-the-art instrumentation, opening new frontiers also for GR testing. In this work, we investigate the possibility of constraining the Nordtvedt parameter η and the mass of the graviton via the Compton wavelength λc, by simulating the processing of 10 years of radiometric data from the Interstellar Probe. Station calibration and clock synchronisation, as well as limiting spacecraft precession manoeuvres are highlighted as key strategies for obtaining high-quality estimates. In the most favourable scenario, η can be constrained to less than 1.5 · 10 -5 , reducing the uncertainty obtained via Lunar Laser Ranging (Hofmann and Müller, 2018), and a lower bound of 1.4 ‧ 10 14 km is set for λc, improving the estimates obtained from planetary ephemerides (Bernus et al., 2020) and gravitational wave detection (Abbott et al., Jun 2021). Extending ranging measurement acquisition to 20 years improves the results tenfold. This experiment interrogates fundamental physics from a unique dynamical setting, investigating possible violations of the Equivalence Principle (EP) underlying GR.
general relativity↗
Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS)
A recent six month investigation focused on: "Determining the benefits of propelling a scientific spacecraft by an 'Electric Sail' propulsion system to the edge of our solar system (the Heliopause), a distance of 100 to 120 AU, in ten years or less" has recently been completed by the Advance Concepts Office at NASA's MSFC. The concept investigated has been named the Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS) by the MSFC team. The HERTS is a revolutionary propellant-less propulsion concept that is ideal for deep space missions to the Outer Planets, Heliopause, and beyond. It is unique in that it uses momentum exchange from naturally occurring solar wind protons to propel a spacecraft within the heliosphere. The propulsion system consists of an array of electrically positively-biased wires that extend outward 20 km from a rotating (one revolution per hour) spacecraft. It was determined that the HERTS system can accelerate a spacecraft to velocities as much as two to three times that possible by any realistic extrapolation of current state-of-the-art propulsion technologies- including solar electric and solar sail propulsion systems. The data produced show that a scientific spacecraft could reach distances of 100AU in less than 10 years. Moreover, it can be reasonably expected that this system could be developed within a decade and provide meaningful Heliophysics Science and Outer Planetary Science returns in the 2025-2035 timeframe.
Wiegmann, Bruce M.↗
Wave speeds in the corona and the dynamics of mass ejections
A disturbance or coronal mass ejection being advected by the solar wind will expand at the fastest local characteristic speed - typically approximately the fast-mode speed. To estimate this characteristic wave speed and the velocity field in the ambient corona, it is necessary to know the magnetic field, temperature, and density. Only the density is known from coronal observations. The temperature, magnetic field, and velocity are not yet directly measured in the outer corona and must be estimated from a model. In this study, it is estimated that the magnetic field, solar wind velocity, and characteristic speeds use the MHD model of coronal expansion between 1 and 5 solar radii (R solar radii) with a dipole magnetic field at the base. This model, for a field strength of about 2 gauss at the base, gives flow speeds at low latitudes (near the heliospheric current sheet) of 250 km/s at 5 R solar radii and, 50 km/s at 2 solar radii, and fast-mode speeds to 400 to 500 km/s everywhere between 2 and 5 solar radii. This suggests that the outer edge of a velocity of mass ejection reported by MacQueen and Fisher (1983) and implies that the acceleration mechanism for coronal mass ejections is other than simple entrainment in the solar wind.
Suess, S. T.↗
Theory of interstellar medium diagnostics
The theoretical interpretation of observed interplanetary resonance luminescence patterns is used as one of the must promising methods to determine the state of the local interstellar medium (LISM). However, these methods lead to discrepant results that would be hard to understand in the framework of any physical LISM scenario. Assuming that the observational data are reliable, two possibilities which could help to resolve these discrepancies are discussed: (1) the current modeling of resonance luminescence patterns is unsatisfactory and has to be improved, and (2) the extrapolated interstellar parameters are not indicative of the unperturbed LISM state, but rather designate an intermediate state attained in the outer regions of the solar system. It is shown that a quantitative treatment of the neutral gas-plasma interaction effects in the interface between the heliospheric and the interstellar plasmas is of major importance for the correct understanding of the whole complex.
Fahr, H. J.↗
Electric Sail Propulsion for Exploring Nearby Interstellar Space
An Electric Sail is a revolutionary propellant-less propulsion system that is ideal for deep space missions to the outer planets, the Heliopause, and beyond. It is revolutionary in that it uses momentum exchange with the hypersonic solar wind to propel a spacecraft within the heliosphere. The momentum exchange is affected by the deflection of charged solar wind particles by an array of electrically biased wires that extend outward up to 30 km from a slowly rotating spacecraft. A high-voltage, positive bias on the wires, which are oriented normal to the solar wind flow, deflects the streaming protons, resulting in a reaction force on the wires that is also directed radially away from the sun. Over a period of months, this small force can accelerate the spacecraft to enormous speeds-on the order of 100-150 km/s (approximately 20 to 30 AU/yr). Unlike solar sails, Electric Sails do not rely on a fixed area to produce thrust. In fact, as they move away from the Sun and solar wind pressure decreases, the area for solar proton momentum transfer becomes larger, increasing system efficiency. As a result, thrust decreases at ≈1/r**(7/6) instead of the ≈1/r**2 rate typical for solar sails. The net effect is that an increased radial range of operation, together with increased thrust, both contribute to higher velocities and shorter total trip times to distant destinations. The MSFC Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) was awarded a Phase II NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) study to mature the technology for possible future demonstration and implementation. Preliminary results indicate that the physics of the system is viable and that a spacecraft propelled by an Electric Sail could reach the Heliopause in less than 15 years - and could be developed within a decade.
Johnson, Les↗
Space Launch System Payload Stage Capability for Ultra-High Characteristic Energy Missions
The Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle is NASA’s cornerstone capability for a new era of human and robotic exploration of deep space. The unrivalled performance of SLS provides the capability to launch the first woman and next man to walk on the lunar surface and to support development of a sustained human presence in cislunar space, and ultimately human missions to Mars. As an evolvable capability with unique launch performance, the opportunities enabled by SLS also include game-changing benefits for science missions, including probes to the outer solar system and beyond. For the last two years, the SLS Program has worked with the Interstellar Probe team at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory(APL) to provide data that describe how SLS could support a mission that would break through the boundary of the heliosphere and into pristine interstellar space only a decade after launch, enabling earlier science return and greatly increasing spacecraft life in the interstellar medium. In record-breaking time, the ISP as launched on SLS may answer questions raised by the extended mission of NASA’s Voyager spacecraft. While SLS and its efficient Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) offer benefits for exploration of the outer planets, adding one or more additional stages to this architecture makes it even more capable for missions beyond our solar system, offering more realistically appealing flight times that would allow the mission scientists to reap the rewards of exploration. During the time the SLS Program has been working with the Interstellar Probe team, it has identified an expedited path to the Block 2 capability planned for the Interstellar Probe mission, and further matured performance numbers for diverse multi-stage configurations using a combination of commercially available liquid hydrogen (LH2)/liquid oxygen (LOX) upper stages and solid motor kick stages. That work has demonstrated the SLS payload stage capability provides significant benefits and opens trade space for multiple missions in consideration during planning for the next Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey. This presentation details the significant benefits SLS can provides for very high characteristic (C3) energy missions by coupling the capabilities of SLS to current commercial rocket propulsion stage systems. These capabilities are explored specifically in the context of an Interstellar Probe architecture in which a small, capable science probe, coupled with carefully tailored mission design trajectories, could be used to explore the outer solar system and the interstellar medium. The presentation will also address the operational logistics of integrating such a mission, explaining the options available for “non-standard” SLS payloads, including processing those with radioisotope power generators or additional propulsion stages. An SLS system overview and capabilities will be presented, along with vehicle configuration and orbit performance capability studies, explaining how SLS is enabling for a variety of high-energy science mission profiles, including launching an exploratory probe bound for interstellar space only a decade after launch.
Rob Stough↗
Jupiter's magnetosphere and radiation belts
Radioastronomy and Pioneer data reveal the Jovian magnetosphere as a rotating magnetized source of relativistic particles and radio emission, comparable to astrophysical cosmic ray and radio sources, such as pulsars. According to Pioneer data, the magnetic field in the outer magnetosphere is radially extended into a highly time variable disk-shaped configuration which differs fundamentally from the earth's magnetosphere. The outer disk region, and the energetic particles confined in it, are modulated by Jupiter's 10 hr rotation period. The entire outer magnetosphere appears to change drastically on time scales of a few days to a week. In addition to its known modulation of the Jovian decametric radio bursts, Io was found to absorb some radiation belt particles and to accelerate others, and most importantly, to be a source of neutral atoms, and by inference, a heavy ion plasma which may significantly affect the hydrodynamic flow in the magnetosphere. Another important Pioneer finding is that the Jovian outer magnetosphere generates, or permits to escape, fluxes of relativistic electrons of such intensities that Jupiter may be regarded as the dominant source of 1 to 30 MeV cosmic ray electrons in the heliosphere.
Kennel, C. F.↗
An MHD Code for the Study of Magnetic Structures in the Solar Wind
We have developed a 2.5D MHD code designed to study how the solar wind influences the evolution of transient events in the solar corona and inner heliosphere. The code includes thermal conduction, coronal heating and radiative cooling. Thermal conduction is assumed to be magnetic field-aligned in the inner corona and transitions to a collisionless formulation in the outer corona. We have developed a stable method to handle field-aligned conduction around magnetic null points. The inner boundary is placed in the upper transition region, and the mass flux across the boundary is determined from 1D field-aligned characteristics and a 'radiative energy balance' condition. The 2.5D nature of this code makes it ideal for parameter studies not yet possible with 3D codes. We have made this code publicly available as a tool for the community. To this end we have developed a graphical interface to aid in the selection of appropriate options and a graphical interface that can process and visualize the data produced by the simulation. As an example, we show a simulation of a dipole field stretched into a helmet streamer by the solar wind. Plasmoids periodically erupt from the streamer, and we perform a parameter study of how the frequency and location of these eruptions changed in response to different levels of coronal heating. As a further example, we show the solar wind stretching a compact multi-polar flux system. This flux system will be used to study breakout coronal mass ejections in the presence of the solar wind.
corona↗
Theory of the Shape of the Heliospheric Termination Shock: Axial Symmetry
The heliospheric termination shock must exhibit asymmetry in its shape, due in part to internal latitude variations in the solar wind, and in part to the special directions defined by the external interstellar flow and/or the galactic magnetic field. This asymmetry shows up naturally in numerical simulations of the interaction between the heliosphere and local interstellar medium. However, to date only one analytical treatment of the theory has appeared, which discussed the modification of the shock shape due to solar wind latitude variations in the presence of spherically symmetric outer boundary conditions. In the present report, we discuss an extension and generalization of this theory to an axially symmetric gasdynamic system, in which departure from spherical symmetry may be due either to internal solar wind variations or to the directional properties of the external interstellar medium. It is shown that for steady flow the post-shock region is characterized by an infinite set of quantities that are conserved along streamlines; among these invariants are the stagnation pressure and a quantity closely related to vorticity. Moreover, for a given latitude profile of the (supersonic) solar wind, the geometry of the termination shock uniquely determines the valued of these invariants at the points where the streamlines emerge from the shock. A self-consistent solution of the problem thus requires a match between the shock geometry and distant boundary conditions. The theory is applied to give estimates of termination-shock asymmetry for various internal and external conditions.
Barnes, Aaron↗
Observations and Simulations of Dropout Events and Flux Decays in October 2013: Comparing MEO Equatorial With LEO Polar Orbit
We compare ESA PROBA-V observations of electron flux at LEO with those from the NASA Van Allen Probes mostly at MEO for October 2013. Dropouts are visible at all energy during four storms from both satellites. Equatorially trapped electron fluxes are higher than at LEO by 10 2 (<1 MeV) to 10 5 (>2.5 MeV). We observe a quite isotropic structure of the outer belt during quiet times, contrary to the inner belt, and pitch angle dependence of high energy injection. We find a very good overlap of the outer belt at MEO and LEO at ~0.5 MeV. We use test-particle simulations of the energetic electrons trapped in the terrestrial magnetic field to study the outer radiation belt electron flux changes during geomagnetic storms. We show that the Dst (Disturbance storm time) effect during the main phase of a geomagnetic storm results in a betatron mechanism causing outward radial drift and a deceleration of the electrons. This outward drift motion is energy independent, pitch angle-dependent, and represents a significant distance (~1 L-shell at L = 5 for moderate storms). At fixed L-shell, this causes a decay of the LEO precipitating flux (adiabatic outward motion), followed by a return to the normal state (adiabatic inward motion) during main and recovery phases. Dst effect, associated with magnetopause shadowing and radial diffusion can explain the main characteristics of outer radiation belt electron dropouts in October 2013. We also use Fokker-Planck simulations with event-driven diffusion coefficients at high temporal resolution, to distinguish instantaneous loss from the gradual scattering that depopulates the slot region and the outer belt after storms. Simulations reproduce the slot formation and the gradual loss in the outer belt. The typical energy dependence of these losses leads to the absence of scattering for relativistic and ultra-relativistic electrons in the outer belt, oppositely to dropouts.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Simulating the Fate of an Ionospheric Mass Ejection
We report global ion kinetic (GIK) simulations of the 24-25 Sep 1988 storm, with all relevant ionospheric outflows including polar, auroral, and plasmaspheric winds. This storm included substantial periods of northward interplanetary magnetic field, but did develop a Dst of -200nT at its peak. The solar disturbance resulted from a coronal mass ejection that reached a peak dynamic pressure at the magnetosphere of 6.2 nPa, and produced a substantial enhancement of auroral wind oxygen outflow from the dayside, which has been termed an "ionospheric mass ejection" in an earlier paper. We use the LFM global simulation model to produce electric and magnetic fields in the outer magnetosphere, the Strangeway-Zheng outflow scalings with Delcourt ion trajectories to include ionospheric outflows, and the Fok-Obner inner magnetospheric model for the plasmaspheric and ring current response to all particle populations. We assess the combined contributions of heliospheric and geospheric plasmas to the ring current for this event.
Moore, Thomas E.↗
The Heliosphere as Resonant Cavity
If a disturbance in the supersonic solar wind reaches the heliospheric shock, a number of events ensue. First, the shock itself responds with inward or outward motion. Secondly, the disturbance propagates outward through the heliosheath as a sound or magnetoacoustic wave; eventually it reaches the heliopause and is (partially) reflected back toward the termination shock. The reflected wave can return to the shock, affecting the shock's motion, and be reflected yet again. The repetition of these processes can produce a 'ringing' in the heliosheath. This suggests that it may be useful to regard the heliosheath as a resonant acoustic cavity with inner and outer boundaries at the termination shock and heliopause, respectively. To evaluate this concept we have developed a simple model of small-amplitude resonant oscillations in an outwardly flowing gas, with appropriate boundary conditions (shock on the interior, tangential discontinuity on the exterior boundary). The fundamental mode of oscillation has a period of order T approx. 2D/C, where C is the speed of sound in the heliosheath and D is the distance between the two boundaries. Typical numerical models of the heliosphere give C approx. 200-500 km/s and D approx. 20 - 100 AU, giving T approx. 0.5 - 2.5 years. Hence we suggest that motions of the heliosheath and termination shock will occur with time scales of the order of a year, and are the consequence of the resonant nature of the heliospheric cavity rather than the history of variation at the Sun and/or in the solar wind. In particular, we suggest that the motion of the termination shock may be unrelated to solar variations over the time scale of the sunspot cycle.
Bames, Aaron↗
Shocks in the outer helisphere: Voyager 2 observations from 18.9 AU to 30.2 AU (1986-1989)
A search for shocks observed by Voyager 2 from 1986.0 to day 233, 1989, in the region between 18.9 AU and 30.2 AU revealed only five candidate fast forward shocks and no reverse shocks. No shock was observed during 1987 (near solar minimum). Only one candidate shock was observed during 1986, when the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) was still close to the equator. This, the weakest of the shocks, was associated with a weak corotating merged interaction region (CMIR). Only two shocks were observed during 1988, when solar activity and the inclination of the HCS were increasing. One of these shocks was associated with a CMIR, the other with a local merged interaction region (MIR) (a transient MIR localized in space). The shocks observed between 18.9 AU and 28.2 AU from 1986 through 1988 were relatively weak, the estimated magnetoacoustic Mach number being less than or equal to 1.5 for each of the three shocks. Since the shocks observed between 20 AU and 29 AU during the 3-year period centered around solar minimum were weak and few in number, shocks were not important in determining the structure, dynamics, and thermodynamics of the equatorial solar wind. The strongest shock in this study was observed during 1989 at the front of a global merged interaction region (GMIR) (a MIR that extends around the Sun and is presumably formed by the coalescence of several transient ejecta and other interaction regions). A weak shock was also observed inside this GMIR.
Burlaga, L. F.↗