Educational Article

The PAC2MAN mission: a new tool to understand and predict solar energetic events

¹ Center for mathematical Plasma-Astrophysics (CmPA), Mathematics Department, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, Leuven, Belgium
² Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Lund, Sweden
³ Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
⁴ Institut für Physik und Astrophysik, Universität Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
⁵ Faculty of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
⁶ Department for Space Mechanisms, RUAG Space GmbH, Vienna, Austria
⁷ Aeronautical Engineering Department, Imperial College London, London, UK
⁸ Department of Geophysics and Space Research, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary
⁹ Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik (KIS), Schöneckstraße 6, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
¹⁰ Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Bologna, Italy
¹¹ LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC, Universit Paris-Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France
¹² British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, England, UK
¹³ Micos Engineering GmbH, Zürich, Switzerland
¹⁴ Berner & Mattner Systemtechnik, Munich, Germany
¹⁵ Physics Department, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
¹⁶ Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, UK

^* Corresponding author: jorgeluis.amaya@gmail.com

Received: 28 February 2014
Accepted: 2 December 2014

Abstract

An accurate forecast of flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) initiation requires precise measurements of the magnetic energy buildup and release in the active regions of the solar atmosphere. We designed a new space weather mission that performs such measurements using new optical instruments based on the Hanle and Zeeman effects. The mission consists of two satellites, one orbiting the L1 Lagrangian point (Spacecraft Earth, SCE) and the second in heliocentric orbit at 1AU trailing the Earth by 80° (Spacecraft 80, SC80). Optical instruments measure the vector magnetic field in multiple layers of the solar atmosphere. The orbits of the spacecraft allow for a continuous imaging of nearly 73% of the total solar surface. In-situ plasma instruments detect solar wind conditions at 1AU and ahead of our planet. Earth-directed CMEs can be tracked using the stereoscopic view of the spacecraft and the strategic placement of the SC80 satellite. Forecasting of geoeffective space weather events is possible thanks to an accurate surveillance of the magnetic energy buildup in the Sun, an optical tracking through the interplanetary space, and in-situ measurements of the near-Earth environment.