Heliophysics and Planetary Science Branch
The Heliophysics and Planetary Science Branch studies the coupled Sun-Earth system and the terrestrial planets and icy satellites of our solar system. Our heliophysics portfolio includes instrumentation development, sounding rocket flight, and research focusing on energy transfer across physical scales throughout the solar atmosphere. Our planetary science portfolio includes research on the origin, composition, and evolution of terrestrial planetary bodies, focusing on geological, geophysical, and related models, experiments, and observations conducted in the field, laboratory, and via analysis of remotely sensed data from space-based missions.
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Heliophysics and Planetary Science Updates
Robert Loper, Mitzi Adams, and Adam Kobelski (ST13) and Joseph Matus (LP03) were interviewed on 1/23/24 by Arkansas PBS for a program on the upcoming 2024 Total Solar Eclipse. The interviews were conducted at the MSFC TV studio, the X-Ray…
A paper entitled “Can Emission Measure Distributions Derived from Extreme-ultraviolet Images Accurately Constrain High Temperature Plasma?” by P.S. Athiray and Amy Winebarger (ST13) has been published by the Astrophysical Journal on 1/25/24. This paper demonstrates the inability of EUV imagers…
The Hi-C Flare payload passed its Pre-Ship Review on 1/8/24 and is now at the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) for integration with a Blank Brandt IX sounding rocket. Hi-C Flare is a suite of experiments designed to observe high-energy…
Alphonse Sterling (ST13)) is lead author on a paper describing coronal jets in solar active regions. The paper is entitled: “Solar Active Region Coronal Jets. III. Hidden-onset Jets,” and appears in The Astrophysical Journal 2024, 960, 109. Read the paper at: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ApJ…960..109S/abstract. Sterling…
MSFC’s Charge Analyzer Responsive to Local Oscillations (CARLO) has been selected by an internal working group as the primary science instrument for a polar low-altitude terrestrial space weather mission concept. On 1/26/24, Linda Habash Krause (ST13) attended the first of…