Proc. SPIE 7438, 74380N, 1−10, 2009
Solar Physics and Space Weather Instrumentation III
S. Fineschi and J.A. Fennelly (eds)
© SPIE − The International Society for Optical Engineering
Imaging coronal mass ejections and other heliospheric phenomena: six years of observations and implications for future capabilities
J.C. Johnston
Air Force Research Lab.
D.F. Webb
Air Force Research Lab. and Boston College
D.C. Norquist
Air Force Research Lab.
T.A. Kuchar
Air Force Research Lab. and Boston College
Abstract
January 2009 marked the 6th anniversary of the launch of the Air Force Research
Laboratory Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) instrument on the Coriolis
spacecraft. Originally planned as a three year mission, SMEI has amassed an
unprecedented dataset of ~25,000 full-sky images since 2003 with a 102-minute
cadence, 1° spatial resolution, and better than 8th magnitude sensitivity.
SMEI, with its Sun/Earth line views, has been joined by the twin STEREO
spacecraft, launched in October 2006, whose heliospheric Imagers (HIs) image
along the ecliptic with opposing, off-axis views, 70° in diameter. These two
data sets are complementary and several events observed by both SMEI and STEREO
are being analyzed. But SMEI is nearing its end of life and the STEREO
spacecraft continue to drift apart by 45°/year with decreasing telemetry
coverage. What would be the characteristics of the next generation instrument in
heliospheric imaging? What would the differences be for an operational
instrument vs. a research instrument? What are the advantages of staring vs.
composite imaging, views from the Sun/Earth line vs. other views, L1 position
vs. low Earth orbit, etc? What are the engineering lessons learned from SMEI and
STEREO and the environment through which such an instrument operates? In this
presentation we discuss these issues and some possible future mission concepts.