SSSC Objective F: Open the Frontier to Space Environment Prediction

Understand the fundamental physical processes of the space environment - from the Sun to Earth, to other planets, and beyond to the interstellar medium.

F.1 Understand magnetic reconnection as revealed in solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and geospace storms.

Inv. F1.1. What are the fundamental physical processes of reconnection on the small-scales where particles decouple from the magnetic field?

Inv. F1.2. What is the magnetic field topology for reconnection and at what size scales does magnetic reconnection occur on the Sun?

F.2 Understand the plasma processes that accelerate and transport particles throughout the solar system.

Inv. F2.1: How are energetic particles accelerated by DC and low frequency electric fields and by stochastic processes?

Inv. F2. 2: How are energetic particles accelerated by shocks?

Inv. F2. 3: How are energetic particles transported within magnetospheres and throughout the heliosphere?

Inv. F2. 4: How is the solar wind accelerated, how has it evolved and how does it interact with the interstellar medium?

F.3 Understand how nonlinear interactions transfer energy and momentum within planetary upper atmospheres.

Inv. F3.1 What governs the nonlinear dynamics transferring momentum and energy between different spatial and temporal scales?

Inv. F3.2 How do energetic particles chemically modify planetary environments?

Inv. F3.3 How do the magnetosphere and the ionosphere-thermosphere systems interact with each other?

F.4 Determine how solar, stellar, and planetary magnetic dynamos are created and why they vary.

Inv.  F4.1 How do solar convective flows drive the solar dynamo? How do solar and stellar dynamso evolve on both short and long-term time scales?

Inv. F4.2 How do planetary dynamos function and why do they vary so widely across the solar system?

SSSC Objective H: Understand the Nature of our Home in Space

Understand how human society, technological systems, and the habitability of planets are affected by solar variability and planetary magnetic fields.

H.1 Understand the causes and subsequent evolution of activity that affects Earth’s space climate and environment.

Inv. H1.1 How do solar wind disturbances propagate and evolve from the Sun to Earth?

Inv. H1.2 What are the precursors to solar disturbances?

Inv. H1.3 Predict solar disturbances that impact Earth.

H.2 Understand changes in the Earth’s magnetosphere, ionosphere, and upper atmosphere to enable specification, prediction, and mitigation of their effects.

Inv. H2.1 What role does the electrodynamic coupling between the ionosphere and the magnetosphere play in determining the response of geospace to solar disturbances?

Inv. H2.2 How do energetic particle spectra, magnetic and electric fields, and currents evolve in response to solar disturbances?

Inv. H2.3 How do the coupled middle and upper atmosphere respond to external drivers and with each other?

H.3 Understand the Sun's role as an energy source to the Earth’s atmosphere, particularly the role of solar variability in driving climate change.

Inv. H3.1 How do solar energetic particles influence the chemistry of the atmosphere, cloud nucleation, and ozone?

Inv. H3.2 What are the dynamical, chemical, and radiative processes that convert and redistribute solar energy and couple atmospheric regions?

Inv. H3.3 How do long term variations in solar energy output affect Earth’s climate?

H.4 Apply our understanding of space plasma physics to the role of stellar activity and magnetic shielding in planetary system evolution and habitability.

Inv. H4.1 What role do stellar plasmas and magnetic fields play in the formation of planetary systems?

Inv. H4.2 What is the role of planetary magnetic fields for the development and sustenance of life?

Inv. H4.3 What can the study of planetary interaction with the solar wind tell us about the evolution of planets and the implications of past and future magnetic field reversals at Earth?

S3C Objective J: Safeguard our Outbound Journey

Maximize the safety and productivity of human and robotic explorers by developing the capability to predict the extreme and dynamic conditions in space.

J.1 Characterize the variability and extremes of the space environments that will be encountered by human and robotic explorers.

Inv. J1.1 What are the variability and worst case extremes of the radiation and space environment that will be encountered by human and robotic explorers, both in space and on the surface of target bodies?

Inv. J1.2 How does the interplanetary radiation environment vary as a function of radial distance, heliographic longitude, latitude and time, and how should it be sampled to provide situational awareness for future human explorers?

Inv. J1.3 (COMBINE WITH J3.3?) What is the relative contribution to the space radiation environment from Solar Energetic Particles and Galactic Cosmic Rays and how does this balance vary in time?

J.2 Develop the capability to predict the origin of solar activity and disturbances associated with potentially hazardous space weather.

Inv. J2.1 What are the observational precursors and magnetic configurations that lead to CMEs and other solar disturbances and what determines their magnitude and output of energetic particles?

Inv. J2.2 What observational data and models are needed to provide the predictive capability required by future human and robotic explorers?

J.3 Develop the capability to predict the acceleration and propagation of energetic particles in order to enable safe travel for human and robotic explorers.

Inv. J3.1 How are Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) created and how do they evolve from their coronal source regions into interplanetary space?

Inv. J3.2 How do solar magnetic fields and solar wind plasma connect to the inner heliosphere and what is the nature of the near-Sun solar wind through which solar disturbances propagate?

Inv. J3.3 How are energetic particles modulated by large-scale structures in the heliosphere (including magnetic fields throughout the solar system) and what determines the variations in the observed particle fluxes?

J.4 Understand how space weather affects planetary environments to minimize risk in exploration activities.

Inv. J4.1 (COMBINE WITH J1.1?) To what extent does the hazardous near-Earth radiation environment impact human and robotic explorer’s safety and productivity?

Inv. J4.2 What Level of Characterization and Understanding of the Dynamics of the Mars Atmosphere is Necessary to Ensure Safe Aerobraking, Aerocapture and EDL Operations?

Inv. J4.3 To what extent does ionospheric instability, seasonal and solar induced variability affect communication system requirements and operation on Mars?

Inv. J4.4 (COMBINE WITH J.1.1?)What is the effect of energetic particle radiation on the chemistry and the energy balance of the Martian atmosphere?

Inv. J4.5 What are the dominant mechanisms of dust charging and transport on the Moon that impact human and robotic safety and productivity?