MSV-2035 Astronomy Document - Inside Design - FINAL - FINAL

Astronomy & Astrophysics 91 APioneering SpaceWeatherMission to Lagrange Point L5: With significant investments in space assets, it is critical for the Nation to become self-reliant in generating space weather information to protect its space-based and space-reliant technologies. In this context, the community has envisioned a mission to the stable Lagrange point L5 which provides opportunities to continually monitor the Sun-Earth system and return actionable space weather information. A specific advantage of this location is advance observations of the solar disk that rotates to the Sun-Earth line in 4-5 days. These advanced observations allow assessment of solar active regions (magnetic field concentrations) that may generate solar storms. This location also samples, a few days in advance, the in-situ space plasma environment (co-rotating interaction regions) that the Earth encounters. The L5 location is also a unique vantage point for observing the Sun-Earth line continuously. This allows constraining the dynamics of Earth-directed magnetic storms such as CMEs with high accuracy, which in turn aids accurate CME arrival time forecasts. Overall, the L5 vantage point is considered the most ideal location for a space weather observatory. Ideal instruments for a space weather mission to L5 would include: i) a Vector Magnetograph and Helioseismic Imager for assessing the potential of solar active regions and measuring solar internal plasma flows, ii) Heliospheric Imager for observing CMEs along the Sun-Earth line, and iii) in-situ plasma diagnostics instruments (magnetic fields and charged particle flux) for assessing space environmental conditions. The Indian solar physics community has already put in concerted effort and thoughts into a plausible L5 mission and other space agencies such as NASA and ESA are beginning to consider this possibility as well. If implemented within the next 5 years, India has a chance to be the first country to have a comprehensive space weather observatory located at this uniquely advantageous location in space. AHigh Resolution SolarObservatory in Low-Earth Orbit: To complement ground-based high resolution observations, a space-based high resolution solar observatory is necessary as it allows near-continuous observations of the Sun (without being impacted by the day-night cycle on Earth) that are not impacted by atmospheric seeing conditions. Understanding small-scalemagnetic reconnection andwavemediated coronal heating, the genesis of solar flares and CMEs in localised magnetic field concentrations and the flow of energy from the solar surface to the atmosphere requires high resolution, high temporal cadence observations of solar magnetic fields and plasma. This would require simultaneous, multi-line spectro- polarimetry to cover different atmospheric layers; line-resolved EUV and X-ray polarimetry; and multi- wavelength, high resolution imaging capabilities. Given the massive data that such a mission would generate and telemetry requirements, such a mission would ideally be located in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). Successfully implementing this mission would require the development of novel instruments that would further advance national research and development ecosystem. 5.7 Large Computing Facilities andDatabases The increasing volumes of large format, high resolution (spatial and spectral) data with high sensitivity are providing MEGA SCIENCE VISION-2035