The Solar Orbiter Science Activity Plan: translating solar and heliospheric physics questions into action
Authors
Zouganelis, Yannis; Rodríguez-Pacheco Martín, Javier; Carcaboso Morales, Fernando; Cernuda Cangas, Ignacio Manuel; Espinosa Lara, Francisco; [et al.]Identifiers
Permanent link (URI): http://hdl.handle.net/10017/60654DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202038445
ISSN: 0004-6361
Publisher
EDP Sciences
Date
2020-09-30Funders
Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Bibliographic citation
Zouganelis, I. [et al.], 2020, "The Solar Orbiter Science Activity Plan: translating solar and heliospheric physics questions into action", Astronomy & Astrophysics, vol. 642, art. no. A3, pp. 1-19.
Project
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013-2016/ESP2017-88436-R/ES/ENERGETIC PARTICLE DETECTOR EN SOLAR ORBITER: FASES D Y E/
Document type
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Version
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
Publisher's version
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202038445Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
© 2020 ESO
Access rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Abstract
Solar Orbiter is the first space mission observing the solar plasma both in situ and remotely, from a close distance, in and out of
the ecliptic. The ultimate goal is to understand how the Sun produces and controls the heliosphere, filling the Solar System and
driving the planetary environments. With six remote-sensing and four in-situ instrument suites, the coordination and planning of the
operations are essential to address the following four top-level science questions: (1) What drives the solar wind and where does the
coronal magnetic field originate?; (2) How do solar transients drive heliospheric variability?; (3) How do solar eruptions produce
energetic particle radiation that fills the heliosphere?; (4) How does the solar dynamo work and drive connections between the Sun
and the heliosphere? Maximising the mission"s science return requires considering the characteristics of each orbit, including the
relative position of the spacecraft to Earth (a ecting downlink rates), trajectory events (such as gravitational assist manoeuvres), and
the phase of the solar activity cycle. Furthermore, since each orbit"s science telemetry will be downloaded over the course of the
following orbit, science operations must be planned at mission level, rather than at the level of individual orbits. It is important to
explore the way in which those science questions are translated into an actual plan of observations that fits into the mission, thus
ensuring that no opportunities are missed. First, the overarching goals are broken down into specific, answerable questions along with
the required observations and the so-called Science Activity Plan (SAP) is developed to achieve this. The SAP groups objectives
that require similar observations into Solar Orbiter Observing Plans (SOOPs), resulting in a strategic, top-level view of the optimal
opportunities for science observations during the mission lifetime. This allows for all four mission goals to be addressed. In this paper,
we introduce Solar Orbiter"s SAP through a series of examples and the strategy being followed.
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