Forums

OVERVIEW

Context

The Solar Polar ORbit Telescope (SPORT) is intended to be the first mission from a polar orbit around the Sun to measure solar high-latitude magnetism leading to eruptions and the fast solar wind, and to image interplanetary propagation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the ecliptic. It was originally proposed in 2004 by the National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and is now under a scientific and engineering background study in China. SPORT is expected to have an orbit similar to that of Ulysses, with its perihelion at 0.7 AU from the Sun, aphelion at 5 AU, and inclination angle of about 75 degrees with respect to the ecliptic. Tentative payload aboard SPORT will include an EUV imager (121.6 nm), a magnetograph, a coronagraph, a heliospheric imager, a synthetic aperture radio imager, a solar wind plasma analyzer, a magnetometer, a radio and plasma wave instrument, and an energetic particle detector.

The forum will introduce the mission to the space physics community and prepare for the exciting discoveries that SPORT will make.The Forum will also explore the scientific objectives of the SPORT mission and how its observations will advance our understanding of solar high-latitude magnetism, the fast solar wind, solar eruptions and their interplanetary propagation. Another purpose of the Forum is to discuss the payload specifications and seek international participations on the payload level.

Objectives

• Characterization of CME propagation through, and interaction with, the inner heliosphere between the Sun and Earth
• Understanding of solar high-latitude magnetism associated with eruptions and the fast solar wind
• Investigation of the origin and properties of the fast solar wind
• Proposals of candidate payloads on board the SPORT spacecraf

Date: 24-25 November 2013

Participant List

Forum Program