Interstellar Probe: Humanity's exploration of the Galaxy Begins

Brandt, P. C.; Provornikova, Elena; Cocoros, A.; Turner, D. L.; Demajistre, R.; Runyon, K. D.; Lisse, C. M.; Bale, S. D.; Kŭrth, W. S.; Galli, André; Würz, Peter; McNutt, R. L.; Wimmer‐Schweingruber, R. F.; Linsky, J. L.; Redfield, Seth; Kollmann, P.; Mandt, K.; Rymer, Abigal M.; Roelof, E. C.; Kinnison, James D.; Opher, M.; Hill, M. E.; Paul, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.07.011

Cited by 35 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The white paper reported here draws heavily from that study, as well as from white papers submitted previously to the European Space Agency (ESA) (Wimmer-Schweingruber et al, 2009;Wimmer-Schweingruber, 2013;Wimmer-Schweingruber, 2019) in response to its Cosmic Vision and Voyage 2050 calls for proposals, and the STELLA proposal submitted to ESA's 13 December 2021 call for a medium-size mission opportunity (Barabash and Wimmer-Schweingruber, 2022). In line with the JHU/APL study, STELLA is a proposal for a substantial European contribtion to a NASA-led Interstellar Probe (ISP) that would reach 350 au after 50 years (Brandt et al, 2022). Here we highlight possible European contributions to such a NASA-led mission as well as the science questions that could be addressed by such a contribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 72%

STELLA—Potential European contributions to a NASA-led interstellar probe

Wimmer‐Schweingruber

André

Barabash

et al. 2022

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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The discovery of a myriad of exoplanets in the past decades has revolutionized the understanding of our place in the Universe. How different are exoplants and do some of them harbor life, just like Earth? To do so, their parent stars must drive a stellar wind and carve what we call astrospheres into the surrounding interstellar medium. Astrospheres are ubiquitous in our immediate neighborhood and show similar structure to our heliosphere. Voyager 1 and 2, Ulysses, Cassini, and IBEX have shown that the interaction between interstellar medium and solar wind is much more complex and involved than previously believed. This stellar-interstellar interaction is key to understand astrospheres and the shielding they provide to the planetary systems they harbor. This article summarizes a whitepaper that was submitted to NASA’s 2023/2024 decadal survey which is being conducted by the US National Academies. It is based in parts on a proposal submitted to the European Space Agency (ESA) in response to its 2021 call for medium-class mission proposals. The whitepaper and this article propose to study the interaction described above in situ at the heliospheric boundaries and to explore the very local interstellar medium beyond. Furthermore, they highlight possible European contributions to a NASA-led Interstellar Probe (ISP).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 72%

STELLA—Potential European contributions to a NASA-led interstellar probe

Wimmer‐Schweingruber

André

Barabash

et al. 2022

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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“…A required resolution of 3 km/s at H Lyman-α would suffice for spectrally resolving the line emissions from the local interstellar medium (LISM) and inner and outer heliosheath populations, allowing characterization of these populations and their interactions from 1-1,000 AU. This new science would be highly suitable for a future interstellar probe mission and would directly complement observations from the two Voyagers, IBEX, IMAP, and New Horizons (Brandt et al, 2022;McNutt et al, 2022). The recommended science yield would directly support NASA's goals of understanding how the solar wind behaves near Earth, how the heliosphere interacts with the interstellar medium, and determining what the boundaries of the heliosphere look like.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Lyman-α to probe the interior and edges of the heliosphere

Mayyasi

Quémerais

Katushkina

et al. 2022

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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Understanding the role of neutral atoms in the heliospheric interface (between the bow shock and heliopause) is critical to identifying dynamics within our local bubble. This article recommends building upon existing measurements with new, high-spectral resolution observations of H Lyman-α, from a heliospheric mapping mission, to resolve the momentum exchange in reactions between the solar wind and energetic neutral atoms that are key to identifying the most important heliospheric processes.

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“…Interstellar nanodust can be probed in situ with an Interstellar Probe (Brandt et al. 2022 ; McNutt et al. 2022 ) outside of the heliosphere; see also Sect.…”

Section: Dynamics Of Dust In and Around The Heliospherementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most likely, it will pile up at the outer edges of our solar system, the heliopause (Slavin et al 2012;Frisch et al 2022). Interstellar nanodust can be probed in situ with an Interstellar Probe (Brandt et al 2022;McNutt et al 2022) outside of the heliosphere; see also Sect. 5.2, Fig.…”

Section: Nanodust and Macromoleculesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dust in and Around the Heliosphere and Astrospheres

et al. 2022

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Interstellar dust particles were discovered in situ, in the solar system, with the Ulysses mission’s dust detector in 1992. Ever since, more interstellar dust particles have been measured inside the solar system by various missions, providing insight into not only the composition of such far-away visitors, but also in their dynamics and interaction with the heliosphere. The dynamics of interstellar (and interplanetary) dust in the solar/stellar systems depend on the dust properties and also on the space environment, in particular on the heliospheric/astrospheric plasma, and the embedded time-variable magnetic fields, via Lorentz forces. Also, solar radiation pressure filters out dust particles depending on their composition. Charge exchanges between the dust and the ambient plasma occur, and pick-up ions can be created. The role of the dust for the physics of the heliosphere and astrospheres is fairly unexplored, but an important and a rapidly growing topic of investigation. This review paper gives an overview of dust processes in heliospheric and astrospheric environments, with its resulting dynamics and consequences. It discusses theoretical modeling, and reviews in situ measurements and remote sensing of dust in and near our heliosphere and astrospheres, with the latter being a newly emerging field of science. Finally, it summarizes the open questions in the field.

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Interstellar Probe: Humanity's exploration of the Galaxy Begins

Cited by 35 publications

References 34 publications

STELLA—Potential European contributions to a NASA-led interstellar probe

STELLA—Potential European contributions to a NASA-led interstellar probe

Using Lyman-α to probe the interior and edges of the heliosphere

Dust in and Around the Heliosphere and Astrospheres

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