Space solar physics

In force date
Call year
2018
Investigator
Basilio
Ruiz Cobo
Amount granted to the IAC Consortium
242.000 €
Description


Four are the main objectives of this coordinated project, which are nevertheless synergistically related to one another. First, we must contribute to the tests until launch (February 2020) of SO/PHI aboard Solar Orbiter, and commission of the instrument for the three first years of flight (cruise phase of the mission), before the scientific operation orbits start. Second, we aim at participating in the third flight of Sunrise with a challenging new IMaX+ magnetograph and with a significant contribution to the new instrument on board, namely, SCIP. Third, we plan to participate in phases A and B of the development of the PMI instrument for the upcoming ESA mission Lagrange, the first of the new European effort to provide own technical tools for space weather forecasting. And fourth, we want to do the necessary basic research to foster our knowledge of the Sun by

1) exploiting data from the first and second flights of Sunrise;

2) analyzing data from other space-borne and ground-based instruments in order to prepare the exploitation of SO/PHI data; and

3) carrying out theoretical investigations of the Suns magnetic field. This scientific goal provides full justification to all the technological efforts made so far and those to come.

The strategy of a nation-wide, single consortium to coordinate the Spanish contribution is the same as that adopted 16 years ago since the first Sunrise mission, which has obtained excellent results. Expertise in different scientific and technological disciplines from the various institutes is combined with a common goal. Our Spanish consortium has been internationally considered a single team efficiently working to develop, and finally deliver, challenging aerospace instruments. As IMaX is the conceptual precursor of PHI, including the critical technological developments (LCVRs, LiNbO3 etalon, electronic inverter of the RTE), our team has a great deal of know-how that is highly valued within the international PHI and Sunrise consortia. It is because this accumulated knowledge that we have been naturally invited to participate in PMI.

Related projects
Celostato de SOPHI en la Sala AIV
SOPHI (Solar Orbiter)
Solar Orbiter Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager
Valentín Juan
Martínez Pillet