SHINE 2025 Sessions

Y. Yang (University of Delaware), W. Matthaeus(University of Delaware), Lingling Zhao (University of Alabama in Huntsville)

Entropy is a central concept in classical equilibrium thermodynamics and its extension to local thermodynamic equilibrium is an essential feature in deriving Navier Stokes equations in collisional gases. The approximations leading to the Boltzmann equation are sometimes applied also to low collisionality plasmas. In that case there is a reasonable justification for use of the Boltzmann-Gibbs entropy functional “f log(f)” in space plasmas. However in the Vlasov Maxwell system where collisions are formally absent, the system is formally reversible, this raises a major issue due to the implied constancy of the “f log(f)” entropy. Another major issue is that the Boltzmann entropy does not include any contribution due to nonuniform or turbulent flows, even though physical intuition suggests that turbulent heating should increase entropy. While some might argue that heating requires collisions, another line of thought suggests that a more general formulation of entropy is required. Other ideas are available including nonuniform extensions to the entropy formulation, information (Shannon) entropy applied to the fields themselves, and nonextensive entropy. This session invites broad discussion of the above issues and merits of various novel and alternative entropy formulations. The issues raised have substantial implications for theory, simulation and observation as well, including understanding heating of the corona and solar wind associated with shocks, turbulence, and reconnection.

 What is the relevance of thermodynamic entropy in low collisionality plasmas?

What do we learn from the recently developed formulations of entropy (spatial dependence, information entropy, etc)?

Is there an extension of standard Boltzmann entropy that takes inhomogeneous flows and turbulence into account? What are we missing if we do not?

Siyao Xu (University of Florida), Xiaocan Li (Los Alamos National Laboratory), Yan Yang (University of Delaware)

Turbulence, reconnection, and shocks are key mechanisms driving energy dissipation and particle acceleration across a wide range of plasma environments. While traditionally studied individually, recent observations and simulations reveal complex interactions between these processes. Understanding this interplay is crucial for uncovering the physics of energy transfer and particle energization in solar corona, solar wind, Earth’s magnetospheres, and cosmic plasmas. This session aims to establish such fundamental interaction and their mutual impact on particle energization, foster cross-disciplinary collaboration, highlight the significant progress being made and identify critical open questions to guide future research.

How do turbulence, reconnection, shock interweave with each other, such as reconnection-driven turbulence, turbulent reconnection, shock-turbulence interaction, and shock-reconnection interaction? 

How do these processes mutually contribute to particle energization? 

What is the role of turbulence in their energy dissipation and their associated acceleration mechanisms? 

Robert C. Allen (Southwest Research Institute), Erika Palmerio (Predictive Science Inc.), Lengying Khoo (Princeton University)

The modern collection of interplanetary observatories allows for unprecedented study of the longitudinal and radial variation in measurements of suprathermal to energetic particles for a multitude of events. However, characteristics such as how wide-spread solar energetic particle (SEP) events are, radial variations in particle fluence and spectral profiles, as well as composition characteristics are often found to be highly variable from event to event. This motivates a robust community discussion on future investigations needed to better constrain and understand the fundamental physics governing particle access, transport, and variability within the inner heliosphere.

1) What are the dominant physical processes that govern the longitudinal extent of SEP events?
2) What fundamental drivers that establish and modify observed variations in SEP properties (e.g., spectra, composition, etc)?

Nikolai Pogorelov (UAH), Federico Fraternale (UAH), and Ameneh Mousavi (Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO)

Pickup ions (PUIs) are generated in the heliosphere and in the local interstellar medium (LISM) through charge exchange, photoionization, and electron impact ionization of neutral atoms, predominantly hydrogen (H) and helium (He). In the distant solar wind regions traversed by New Horizons (NH), non-thermal PUIs dominate the internal energy of plasma, mediate the properties of collisionless shocks, and give birth to energetic neutral atoms (ENAs), some of which are detected by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), Cassini INCA, and SOHO HSTOF. Recent studies emphasize the need to reassess our understanding of the proton and electron velocity distribution functions, and the underlying physical processes, which is crucial for refining interpretations of the observed ENA fluxes and preparing for new IMAP observations. Additionally, PUIs play a critical role in interpreting Voyager observations in the VLISM, ultimately advancing our understanding of the unperturbed LISM properties. The properties of electrons are crucial also for descriptions of the interstellar dust entering the heliosphere.

1. What are the time-dependent properties of the (multi-component) PUI and electron velocity distribution functions and their impact on the global heliosphere?

2. What are the physical processes affecting ENA observations of the globally-distributed and ribbon fluxes, and how can theoretical and numerical ENA models be improved to better fit observational data? 

3. How to reconstruct the heliospheric magnetic field at NH and PUI properties at Voyagers?

Katie Whitman (KBR, NASA JSC Space Radiation Analysis Group (SRAG)), Clayton Allison (Leidos, NASA JSC SRAG), Ricky Egeland (NASA JSC SRAG) 

Large eruptions on the Sun have the potential to release solar energetic particles (SEP) into the heliosphere. These highly accelerated charged particles pose a radiation risk to hardware and astronauts in space. The research community regularly cites the potential for SEP events to debilitate or kill astronauts. But how realistic is this scenario? The Space Radiation Analysis Group (SRAG) at NASA Johnson Space Center studies radiation impacts to humans due to the changing space radiation environment. We will discuss historical SEP events measured since the start of the space age and their impacts on humans and operations, including typical and worst case scenarios.

What is radiation dose and what do all the different units mean (e.g., Gy, Sv, Gy-eq)?

What are the actual radiation outcomes for SEP events in realistic and worst-case operational scenarios?

How are SEP events handled in current ISS operations and for the upcoming Artemis missions?

Francesco Pecora (Delaware), Alex Chasapis (Colorado), Julia Stawarz (United Kingdom), W. Matthaeus (Delaware)

Space plasmas are permeated by phenomena across vastly different scales, from coronal mass ejections to kinetic effects involving individual particles. Our understanding of these phenomena depends on space missions that gather data throughout the heliosphere – from regions close to the Sun, through near-Earth space, to the heliosphere’s outer boundaries.

Different space missions are dedicated to investigating different regions of the heliosphere.
Parker Solar Probe ventures closer to the Sun than ever before, Ulysses and Solar Orbiter move outside the ecliptic plane, various probes are dedicated to different planets, and the Voyager spacecraft recently reached the interstellar medium. However, these missions rely on single-point measurements. While invaluable for discovering properties of unexplored regions, such measurements limit our understanding of space plasma dynamics.

A significant breakthrough came with the Cluster and Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) missions, each employing a constellation of four spacecraft for simultaneous multipoint measurements. These missions yielded extraordinary scientific returns and enabled innovative techniques like the curlometer and wave telescope through which previously inaccessible phenomena could be investigated, including wave-turbulence interactions, dissipation processes, emergence of local equilibria, and direct studies of the Vlasov equation.

We are now facing a similar leap forward with novel multipoint multiscale missions to be launched. These missions (HelioSwarm, Plasma Observatory), not only provide simultaneous multi-point measurements (at 9 and 7 points respectively) but also cover a range of multiple scales, providing the first-ever possibility to directly investigate multiscale problems in space revealing the full complexity of space plasma dynamics.

Additionally, the growing number of spacecraft, allows for non-conventional multipoint studies such as PSP-Solar Orbiter alignments, and multi-spacecraft CME studies, using L1 missions as a swarm.

What science, currently inaccessible, is going to become available with new multipoint multiscale missions?

What tools do we need to develop to enable this new science?

Can we extend these tools to existing multispacecraft missions?

Rohit Chhiber (NASA GSFC and U Delaware), Sam Badman (Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian), Craig DeForest (SWRI, Boulder), William Matthaeus (U Delaware)

The transition from sub-Alfvénic to super-Alfvénic flow in the solar wind occurs at a location that has been variously referred to as the Alfvén radius or point, the Alfvén surface, and the Alfvén zone. Other important transitions, including the rise of the frame-independent plasma beta parameter to near unity, occur in this same general altitude range. Regardless of the morphological details of this transition, it can be meaningfully interpreted as a boundary between the solar corona and the rest of the heliosphere, with several important differences between the physical processes that occur in sub-Alfvénic and super-Alfvénic domains. The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission has accumulated a wealth of in-situ observations of sub-Alfvénic solar wind during its recent solar encounters, and the PUNCH mission will provide unprecedented remote imaging data focused on this region. The time is therefore ripe for the SHINE community to engage in an exploration of what we understand about the Alfvén zone, and of the outstanding open questions that remain. We welcome contributions that employ in-situ and remote observations as well as analytical and numerical modeling to address these questions.

• What is the global structure of the Alfvén zone/surface, in terms of average altitude, “thickness”, 3D shape, and how this structure evolves with dynamic solar activity both in a steady sense and in relation to solar transients?
• What are the important differences in physical processes occurring on the “two sides” of the Alfvén zone, i.e., in sub-Alfvénic and super-Alfvénic solar wind? This may include differences in turbulence properties, wave-particle interactions and instabilities, energetic particle transport, switchbacks, and angular momentum transport.
• What are the implications of our knowledge of the solar Alfvén zone for the atmospheres of other stars and for space weather in exoplanetary systems?

Phillip Hess (NRL), Christina Kay (APL), Erika Palmerio (PSI)

Improved spatial and temporal resolution and unique multi-spacecraft configurations have allowed coronal mass ejection imaging to move beyond merely tracking leading edges and fronts. A number of smaller scale structures within the CME body have been seen in instruments such as PSP/WISPR, SolO/SoloHI, SolO/Metis and GOES/CCOR1. This capability is only expected to grow as Solar Orbiter leaves the ecliptic and as data from the PUNCH mission and CCOR2 become available. The central question of this session is: what do these smaller features tell us about the physical processes which form coronal mass ejections and govern their global evolution in the heliosphere? 

How do apparent circular cavities in images at larger heliocentric distances relate to possible flux rope structures seen in the corona, near the Sun, and what does that say about the extent to which a CME from the Sun can really be called a flux rope structure?

MHD models have been developed, and synthetic images created, to attempt to re-create observations from imagers like LASCO, SECCHI and SDO and have largely been successful at creating realistic macroscale CME structures in these synthetic images. Of the micro- and mesoscale structures now being imaged, what are the models capable of resolving and what is currently missing? 

Emily Mason (Predictive Science Inc.), Micah Weberg (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)

Coronal holes – the large, EUV-dark regions of open field in the solar corona – are of critical importance to solar physics, as the undisputed origin point of the fast solar wind, and a sometimes-disputed origin point of the slow solar wind. In recent years, a great deal of focus has centered on the boundary regions of these structures. It is generally accepted that the bright borders that are visible in EUV are not representative of the precise location of the actual open/closed boundary, nor can they account for the total open flux that fills the heliosphere. Methods have been developed to detect or derive the boundary using magnetic models, FIP calculations, image processing techniques, etc., yet many open questions remain. The purpose of this session is to bring together theorists, observers, and modelers to discuss their perspectives on coronal hole boundary determination, and then move towards a consensus on what is still lacking in order to bring closure to open questions on the open/closed boundary.

1. Does the open/closed boundary have a physically significant width?

2. What would constitute the “smoking gun” for defining the open/closed boundary in observations?

3. If the answer to 1 is “yes:” does the region have a physically-driven width at all times, or does the width come from a line that sweeps out a region as a function of time?

Nishtha Sachdeva (University of Michigan) , Prateek Mayank (SWx TREC, University of Colorado, Boulder)

As solar activity increases, the likelihood of successive CMEs interacting in the interplanetary medium increases, potentially leading to prolonged geomagnetic impacts, as seen during the May 2024 Gannon storm. Despite advances in observations and modeling, the nonlinear coupling of multiple CMEs remains poorly understood, limiting space weather forecasting. This session aims to explore the underlying phenomena, including reconnection, reverse shocks, and energetics, that govern complex CME-CME interactions to improve our predictive capabilities.

1. Physical Mechanisms & Evolution: What physical processes dominate the interaction and evolution of successive CMEs as they couple or collide?

2. Origins to Impacts: How do the initial properties of CMEs and their sources (e.g., homologous or sympathetic) influence their geoeffectiveness?

3. Case Study & Prediction: How can we improve the forecasting of CME-CME interactions, as demonstrated by events like the May 2024 Gannon storm, through better data strategies, modeling tools, or more effective predictive metrics?

Abril Sahade (Heliospheric Physics Laboratory, NASA GSFC), Cecilia Mac Cormack (The Catholic University of America)

Solar eruptions release large amounts of solar plasma and more intense magnetic fields into the interplanetary medium than the surrounding environment. These events are usually observed in the lower corona as flares and/or prominence eruptions, and then in white-light images of the upper corona as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Later, in-situ measurements indicate the arrival of the corresponding magnetic flux rope to a spacecraft. In this new era of solar observatories (e.g. Solar Orbiter, Parker Solar Probe, Bepi Colombo), we count with more information than ever to increase and challenge our understanding of the evolutionary process of eruptive events. To understand the complete evolution of the magnetic systems we need to not only combine the observations but to explain them under a common theoretical frame. Combining observations and modeling uncover a new path for a deeper understanding of CME evolution and internal structure.

-Can we explain combined observations (remote, in-situ, vantage viewpoints) under the traditional models?

-How can we improve the reliability of these models?

-Can models help us to understand better what is happening during observational gaps?

Viacheslav M Sadykov and Griffin Goodwin (Georgia State University, GA), Liang Zhao (University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, MI), Henry Han (Baylor University, TX)

Physics-based numerical simulations are invaluable for understanding the processes and interactions within the Heliosphere. Such simulations provide the fundamental possibility to model the plasma phenomena based on the first principles, although sometimes experience limitations such as high computational costs, restricted exploration of conditions, and sometimes simplified physical assumptions that may not fully align with observations. Machine learning (ML), by contrast, offers powerful data-driven modeling and learning capabilities to uncover latent behaviors and structures by leveraging large amounts of data, and is highly efficient computationally once well-trained and deployed. However, its performance depends heavily on the quality and diversity of the training data and generally lacks explainability. Both approaches present distinct advantages and challenges. This session aims to explore strategies for integrating physics-based models with ML techniques to harness their respective strengths while addressing their limitations, enabling more accurate and efficient modeling of heliospheric phenomena.

1. How can the hybrid modeling approaches that incorporate both physics-based and ML components improve the capabilities of modeling the solar and heliospheric environment (with respect to the speed and accuracy of simulations) and contribute to developing explainable ML?

2. How can ML approaches serve as a scale-coupling bridge by learning embeddings from physics-based simulations to model small-scale processes (e.g., kinetic processes and turbulence) within large-scale heliophysics modeling efforts? Can we exploit transfer learning alongside multi-fidelity learning to enhance the generalization and scalability of these ML models?

3. How can the physics-based models assimilate the real observational data information using ML to inform them about the realistic heliospheric conditions or any physics missing?

Bin Zhuang (University of New Hampshire), Fernando Carcaboso (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), Andreas J. Weiss (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), and Shaheda Begum Shaik (George Mason University/Naval Research Laboratory)

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are large-scale transients and energetic expulsions that have been studied over decades through extensive remote sensing observations, in-situ measurements, and models. While these diverse observations and modeling approaches have greatly advanced our understanding of CME properties, the range of assumptions and techniques can complicate the accurate understanding of these large-scale structures. Particularly, some techniques might have the risk of being misused when interpreting the CME data from the passage of a single or a few spacecraft. This session focuses on our current understanding of CME physical properties by integrating multiple observations, models, and methods for a comprehensive view of CMEs, highlighting both the advantages and limitations/caveats of the modeling efforts. It will also emphasize how different data sources and models can be best combined, compared, and validated to improve our overall understanding of CME physics.

(1) What physical properties and characteristics of CMEs can be derived from currently available observations and models?

(2) In what situations the model may over-interpret the results or mislead our understanding of CMEs?

(3) What do we expect to fill the gap of understanding the CME properties with unique spacecraft constellation, with complementary techniques including polarization and/or Faraday rotation, and with combinations of CME remote sensing and in situ models (model synergy)?

J. Grant Mitchell (NASA/GSFC), Georgia de Nolfo (NASA/GSFC), Alessandro Bruno (CUA & NASA/GSFC), Nicola Omodei (Stanford)

Solar flares are well known to accelerate ions and electrons to high energies. Many solar flares occur with a closed magnetic topology in which accelerated charged particles remain partially or totally trapped within the corona. In these cases, the secondary neutral emission (in particular X-rays, gamma-rays, and neutrons) produced in interactions of precipitating particles with the dense solar atmosphere is our only insight into these otherwise inaccessible events. Measurements of solar neutrons and gamma rays can yield, among other things, valuable information regarding the temporal and spectral characteristics of the acceleration and transport mechanisms. With different reaction thresholds, they offer a method for examining how flare particle energization evolves in time, and provide complementary insight into the composition of the chromosphere/photosphere and the parent particle population. That said, neutrons and gamma-rays are some of the least-studied products of solar flares, and are arguably the most difficult to measure with the necessary accuracy. Our 2023 session was aimed to give an important re-introduction of the field to the community including initial brainstorming on mission concepts. In this new session we plan to expand these topics with the goal of identifying key measurements and modeling to progress our understanding of solar eruptive events at the highest energies. 

1. What are the challenges of measuring flare neutrons with the world-wide network of neutron monitors? 

2. What is the state of flare-loop modeling and what advances are required to better understand this secondary neutron production? 

3. What can complementary measurements of hard X-rays, gamma-rays and neutrons tell us about the details of the flare energization process?

Michael Terres (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory), Srijan Bharati Das (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory), Emily Lichko (Naval Research Lab), Sarah Conley (Princeton University)

The devil is in the details: The key to addressing fundamental questions related to heating, acceleration, and turbulence in the solar wind is an accurate representation of particle phase space velocity distribution functions (VDFs). The structure of solar wind VDFs elucidates the history and evolution of a plasma parcel from the low corona to the heliopause and beyond. VDF observations are often incomplete due to instrument limitations or because the measurements are performed in reduced phase space dimensions. Oversimplified bi-Maxwellian fits of such VDFs are inadequate to analyze multiple ion populations, plasma wave modes, instabilities, and other nonlinear phenomena that require well-resolved, non-equilibrium VDFs.

In response to this issue, there has been a recent surge of analytical, numerical, and machine learning-based techniques to maximize the information collected by in-situ observations of various plasma species. Careful cross-overs of such novel methods hold the potential to judiciously characterize smooth, high-resolution phase space measurements derived from coarse instrumental grids. These techniques open various pathways to quantify the energy transport, which are tractable primarily via numerical simulations. By integrating these innovative tools with wave-particle correlation methods, numerical solvers, and phase space entropy cascades, we are now able to investigate kinetic processes in detail from in-situ observations. Discussion in this session will be aimed towards the current state of novel data processing techniques, how these can bridge the gap between observation and theory/simulation, and finally, will address what future observations and coordinated strategies are needed to bring closure to long-standing questions in kinetic plasma physics.

1.) How do new reconstruction techniques enhance our understanding of wave-particle interactions and energy transport? 

2.) How can we leverage measurements from past and current instruments with state-of-the-art simulations to best prepare for future missions?

3.) What measurements are needed to bring closure to understanding the energy transport in the solar wind?

Sherry Chhabra (George Mason University/Naval Research Laboratory), Sam Schonfeld (Air Force Research Laboratory), Shaheda Begum Shaik (George Mason University/Naval Research Laboratory), Surajit Mondal (Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research, New Jersey Institute of Technology)

The newly released 2024-2033 Solar and Space Physics Decadal survey strongly endorses the Frequency Agile Solar Radiotelescope (FASR) as a high-priority NSF midscale infrastructure project. It emphasizes FASR for its ability to concurrently observe the solar transition region all the way to the middle corona in the radio regime with unprecedented imaging fidelity and dynamic range at high temporal and angular resolution. Although not solar-dedicated, the upcoming Square Kilometer Array (SKA) and Next-Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) also have the potential for similar observations on an occasional basis. But how will these next-generation facilities help advance SHINE research? This session will start with a primer on FASR, how it builds from existing, pathfinder facilities (EOVSA, LWA, VLA, etc.), the novel and exciting science it will enable, and how FASR integrates with future ground-based observatories and the integrated HelioSystems Laboratory. This session will help hone the science cases for FASR through lively discussions of SHINE community science questions and how next-generation radio observatories can address them. 

1: How will the unique capabilities and novel measurements of next-generation radio arrays advance SHINE research?

2: What physical parameter constraints (e.g., volumetric magnetic field strengths, accelerated electron spectra, hydrogen emission measure, CME acceleration, etc.) probed by next-generation radio observatories, do you need to advance your science questions?

3: How can we integrate next-generation radio observatories into the HelioSystems Laboratory?

Shea Hess Webber (Stanford), Bill Abbett (Berkeley) — both COFFIES

Traditional solar interior models assume an environment of high beta, where the fluid pressure is dominant. However, the photosphere is not only a transition region to magnetic pressure dominance, but the plasma beta in this region can also fluctuate with time and location. It is unclear how this (and other) regions of beta transition impact models (e.g. flux transport, MHD) and observations (e.g. helioseismology).

1) How does the transition of the plasma beta from within the convection zone to the solar atmosphere impact our models and observations?

2) Do we need to be taking this transition region into greater consideration in our physical understanding of the interior and atmospheric regimes?

3) If so, how do we do so effectively?

Ruizhu Chen (Stanford University); Bibhuti Kumar Jha (Southwest Research Institute, Boulder); Prateek Mayank (Space Weather Technology, Research and Education Center, University of Colorado Boulder)

Most models for forecasting space weather or solar wind rely on comprehensive observations of the entire Sun, encompassing both the Earth-facing near-side and the far-side photospheric magnetic map, as an inner/lower boundary condition. Observations from multiple-vantage points (eg. STEREO, Solar Orbiter) has significantly improved our understanding of solar dynamics and enhanced our forecasting capabilities. However, direct, continuous far-side observations are currently unavailable and will not resume until the STEREO satellites return to a far-side orbital position in coming years. In the interim, helioseismic far-side imaging and Surface Flux Transport (SFT) modeling offer valuable near-real-time estimates of the full sun including far-side estimation of the photospheric surface magnetism. Incorporating these products into forecasting models has the potential to significantly enhance the accuracy of space weather predictions.

1. How accurately can we observe and model the solar far side using helioseismology, SFT, and other approaches?

2. What new insights into solar activity and magnetic evolution can multiple-vantage observations and far-side modeling provide?

3. How can far-side observations and modeling enhance space weather predictions, including coronal and solar wind forecasts?

Brian Welsch (University of Wisconsin – Green Bay);  Mike Wheatland (University of Sydney, NSW, Australia); Yang Liu (Stanford University); Jon Linker (Predictive Science)

Coronal electric currents are believed to supply the energy released in CMEs and solar flares.
Despite these currents’ central role, however, we possess limited knowledge about (i) their structure and (ii) how they evolve before and after CMEs / flares. However, the recent application of Gauss’s separation method to observations of the Sun’s photospheric magnetic field shows promise for substantially improving our understanding of coronal currents and CME-associated changes. What can this and other observational methods teach us about the nature of coronal currents and their evolution associated with CMEs and flares? 

What can inferences about coronal currents derived from observations, photospheric and otherwise, teach us about the structure of and evolution of currents in CME source regions? 

Where and in which direction(s) do currents flow?

How do these currents evolve around the times of CMEs and flares?

James Ryan (UNH), Joe Giacalone (U Arizona), Ashraf Moradi (U Arizona), Alessandro Bruno (GSFC)

Neutron monitors have become a key tool of NSF in the studies of space weather. Their impact on aviation is under appreciated. With the recent investment by NSF into neutron monitors, we want to get ideas, input and discussion from the larger community.

As in the description, “Detecting them, measuring them, assessing the danger they pose, notifying concerned parties and predicting them are all subjects of this session.”

Tyler Eddy, Liang Zhao, Jim Raines, and Aidan Nakhleh

The 2024 Heliophysics Decadal Survey’s (HDS) highest priority for NASA’s Living With a Star (LWS) program is the Solar Polar Orbiter (SPO) mission concept. A polar orbiter around the Sun will be able to produce unprecedented measurements of the Sun, the solar wind, and the magnetic field in the polar regions in order to understand the origin of the solar magnetic dynamo and how the magnetic field drives solar activity and shapes the heliosphere over the course of the solar cycle. The HDS included the following instrument suites in it’s recommendation: doppler vector magnetograph, EUV imager, white-light coronagraph, heliospheric imager, magnetometer, ion-electron spectrometer, ion mass spectrometer, and energetic particle suite. This session will discuss the specifics of these instrument designs in addition to their capabilities and limitations in addressing the science questions outlined by the survey.

What measurements, remote and in situ, are necessary to meet the stated science goals of the proposed LWS Solar Polar Orbiter mission?

What instrument suites will match the best performance capabilities (e.g., range, resolution, life expectancy) to the necessary measurements defined above?