2022
ACL
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Vladimir Krasnoselskikh, Bruce T.Tsurutani, Thierry Dudok de Wit, Simon Walker, Michael Balikhin, Marianne Balat-Pichelin, Marco Velli, Stuart D.Bale, Milan Maksimovic, Oleksiy Agapitov, Wolfgang Baumjohann, Matthieu Berthomier, Roberto Bruno, Steven R.Cranmer, Bart de Pontieu, Domingos de Sousa Meneses, Jonathan Eastwood, Robertus Erdelyi, Robert Ergun, Viktor Fedun, Natalia Ganushkina, Antonella Greco, Louise Harra, Pierre Henri, Timothy Horbury, Hugh Hudson, Justin Kasper, Yuri Khotyaintsev, Matthieu Kretzschmar, Säm Krucker, Harald Kucharek, Yves Langevin, Benoît Lavraud, Jean-Pierre Lebreton, Susan Lepri, Michael Liemohn, Philippe Louarn, Eberhard Moebius, Forrest Mozer, Zdenek Nemecek, Olga Panasenco, Alessandro Retino, Jana Safrankova, Jack Scudder, Sergio Servidio, Luca Sorriso-Valvo, Jan Souček, Adam Szabo, Andris Vaivads, Grigory Vekstein, Zoltan Vörös, Teimuraz Zaqarashvili, Gaetano Zimbardo, Andrei Fedorov, 'ICARUS: in-situ studies of the solar corona beyond Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter', Experimental Astronomy 54 277-315 (2022) doi:10.1007/s10686-022-09878-1
The primary scientific goal of ICARUS (Investigation of Coronal AcceleRation and heating of solar wind Up to the Sun), a mother-daughter satellite mission, proposed in response to the ESA “Voyage 2050” Call, will be to determine how the magnetic field and plasma dynamics in the outer solar atmosphere give rise to the corona, the solar wind, and the entire heliosphere. Reaching this goal will be a Rosetta Stone step, with results that are broadly applicable within the fields of space plasma physics and astrophysics. Within ESA’s Cosmic Vision roadmap, these science goals address Theme 2: “How does the Solar System work?” by investigating basic processes occurring “From the Sun to the edge of the Solar System”. ICARUS will not only advance our understanding of the plasma environment around our Sun, but also of the numerous magnetically active stars with hot plasma coronae. ICARUS I will perform the first direct in situ measurements of electromagnetic fields, particle acceleration, wave activity, energy distribution, and flows directly in the regions in which the solar wind emerges from the coronal plasma. ICARUS I will have a perihelion altitude of 1 solar radius and will cross the region where the major energy deposition occurs. The polar orbit of ICARUS I will enable crossing the regions where both the fast and slow winds are generated. It will probe the local characteristics of the plasma and provide unique information about the physical processes involved in the creation of the solar wind. ICARUS II will observe this region using remote-sensing instruments, providing simultaneous, contextual information about regions crossed by ICARUS I and the solar atmosphere below as observed by solar telescopes. It will thus provide bridges for understanding the magnetic links between the heliosphere and the solar atmosphere. Such information is crucial to our understanding of the plasma physics and electrodynamics of the solar atmosphere. ICARUS II will also play a very important relay role, enabling the radio-link with ICARUS I. It will receive, collect, and store information transmitted from ICARUS I during its closest approach to the Sun. It will also perform preliminary data processing before transmitting it to Earth. Performing such unique in situ observations in the area where presumably hazardous solar energetic particles are energized, ICARUS will provide fundamental advances in our capabilities to monitor and forecast the space radiation environment. Therefore, the results from the ICARUS mission will be extremely crucial for future space explorations, especially for long-term crewed space missions.
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