JAXA (Japan)/PPARC (UK)/NASA, instrumentation built, in system integration stage, launch 2006

NASA will provide the focal plane package (FPP) for the optical telescope as well as components of the X-ray telescope and Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer. NASA has selected three U.S. teams to participate in the development of these scientific instruments.

Solar-B will provide a new comprehensive view of the dynamic solar atmosphere and enable a unique and timely interaction between theory and observations. The Solar-B international collaboration is based on the very successful Japan/UK/U.S. Yohkoh mission that observed x-ray and gamma-ray solar phenomena. Using a combination of optical, EUV, and x-ray instrumentation, Solar-B will study the Sun’s outer atmosphere, surface, and near-surface layers as a magnetically linked system. This approach will shed light on the way that the Sun’s magnetic field modulates solar luminosity and generates the million-degree corona and supersonic solar wind, and also how the magnetic field contributes to the explosive release of solar flares and coronal mass ejections into the solar system. Solar-B will provide the first space-based observations of the Sun’s vector magnetic fields, gathering continuous high-spatial- and high-temporal-resolution measurements over active-region scale fields of view. Such observations help determine the extent to which free energy stored in sheared or twisted (i.e., non-potential) magnetic fields heats the corona and powers solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

Solar-B will seek to understand:

• The creation and destruction of the Sun’s magnetic field,

• Solar magnetic explosions,

• The generation of EUV and x-ray radiation in the Sun, and

• Modulation of the Sun’s luminosity.

Solar activity is the primary driver of the space weather. By quantitatively understanding the solar physics that causes processes such as flares and CMEs (i.e., the relationship between the release of magnetic energy and the magnitude of the resulting flare), scientists will be able to more accurately predict major solar eruptions that significantly affect space weather. Knowledge of the three-dimensional magnetic structure of the eruptive material is also important for predicting its propagation through and interaction with the solar wind and its time of arrival at an interplanetary spacecraft. Solar-B will provide EUV and x-ray observations of unprecedented spatial resolution, wavelength coverage, and temporal continuity that will reveal the mechanisms of energetic particle acceleration in solar flares.

Front Matter (R1-R12)

Executive Summary (1-4)

1 Introduction (5-11)

2 Enabling Exploration of the Sun-Heliosphere-Planetary System (12-24)

3 Implementation Strategy and Recommendations (25-30)

Appendix A: Statement of Task (31-34)

Appendix B: Sun-Earth Connection Missions and Exploration (35-51)

Appendix C: A National Science Research Agenda (52-53)

Appendix D: Biographies of Committee Members (54-57)

Appendix E: Acronyms (58-60)