National Academies Press: OpenBook
« Previous: Theory, Computer Modeling, Data Exploration, and Data Mining
Page 35
Suggested Citation:"Technology: Enabling the Future." National Research Council. 2004. Understanding the Sun and Solar System Plasmas: Future Directions in Solar and Space Physics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11188.
×

TECHNOLOGY

ENABLING THE FUTURE

Advances in solar and space physics result either from visiting new places, or from revisiting old places with new, improved observational capabilities. To these should be added revisiting old problems with new computational techniques and improved computational resources. Examples of missions that will advance our knowledge by visiting “new places” are Solar Probe and Interstellar Probe, which will visit the innermost and outermost unexplored regions of the heliosphere. Examples of missions that will bring new observational capabilities to bear on previously surveyed regions are the MMS mission, which will make measurements of unprecedently high time resolution from multiple spacecraft, and MagCon, which will deploy some 50 to 100 nanosatellites to capture the large-scale dynamics of the magnetosphere.

The New Millennium Program’s Space Technology 5 mission (launch in 2005) will test advanced spacecraft technologies required for future space physics missions involving constellations of miniaturized satellites.

Artist’s concept of a solar-sail-powered spacecraft. Solar sails are being considered for an Interstellar Probe and for a multispacecraft “sentinel” mission to study the propagation of heliospheric disturbances from the Sun to Earth.

Whether it is exploring new regions, revisiting previously explored regions with enhanced observational capabilities, or addressing old problems with new computing resources—in each case improvements in technology are required. The Survey Committee identifies seven main areas in which focused technology development, based on both the immediate and the projected needs of solar and space physics research, is required to support future advances in our knowledge and understanding of solar system plasmas:

  • Developing new propulsion technologies to send spacecraft to the planets and beyond as efficiently as possible

  • Developing highly miniaturized sensors of charged and neutral particles and photons

  • Developing highly miniaturized spacecraft and advanced spacecraft subsystems for missions involving constellations of multiple spacecraft

  • Gathering and assimilating the data from multiple platforms

  • Integrating large space-physics databases into physics-based numerical models

  • Deploying reliable, unmanned, ground-based ionospheric and geomagnetic measurement stations

  • Developing a high-resolution, ground-based solar imager

Page 35
Suggested Citation:"Technology: Enabling the Future." National Research Council. 2004. Understanding the Sun and Solar System Plasmas: Future Directions in Solar and Space Physics. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11188.
×
Page 35
Next: Strengthening the Nation's Solar and Space Physics Enterprise »
Understanding the Sun and Solar System Plasmas: Future Directions in Solar and Space Physics Get This Book
×
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF
  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!