Scientific Research National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Heliophysics
Studying the Earth-Sun SystemAt-A-Glance

As humans extend their reach into space, important roles influencing the propagation of
understanding the origin and nature of solar waves and the transport of energy and particles At-A-Glance:
activity and its effect on the space environment through the magnetospheric system. Both of Marshall Space Flight Center consistently
and the Earth becomes critical for the operation these research areas lead to the bridging activity provides high-value heliophysics science to
of both robotic and manned systems. Marshall of space weather where the derived knowledge NASA because of its colocation of engineer-
Space Flight Center has researched this envi- of processes taking place at the Sun and its ing and science resources, and is focused
ronment since the 1970s, creating the Apollo extended plasma environment are needed to on finding and developing affordable
Telescope Mount, an 8-instrument science characterize the climate in space and predict approaches to expanding and delivering
platform on Skylab that performed the earliest its dynamic conditions or weather. new heliophysics research.
space-based heliophysics observations.

Marshall continues to advance understanding

of the interconnected Earth-Sun system to
provide knowledge and predictive capabili-
ties essential to future use and exploration of
space. The colocation of space scientists and
engineers at Marshall provides a collaborative
environment for the development of instruments
and achievement of science.

Expertise
Marshall’s heliophysics research is organized
into three primary themes: the Sun and the
heliosphere, the terrestrial magnetosphere and
ionosphere, and space weather. Of primary
interest at the Sun is its internal processing of
magnetic fields that leads to a periodic cycle
of activity and the dynamics of the extended
magnetic field into the corona where energy
is irregularly released in tremendous eruptions
of particle and electromagnetic energy. The
response of the Earth’s magnetic environment
to solar activity is the focus of magnetospheric
research. Thermal plasma in the ionosphere
and its extension into the magnetosphere play

Hinode studies the generation, transport, and dissipation

of magnetic energy from the photosphere to the corona.
Image of full sun taken by Hinode May 31, 2013.

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By studying the sun and its magnetic field, Marshall scientists are Understanding Solar Magnetic Fields
advancing understanding of explosive solar activity that can interfere with
satellite communications and can damage electric power transmission Hinode
grids on Earth. Solar flares can also threaten spacecraft, or astronauts on Hinode is providing cutting-edge understanding of the interaction
the way to or working on the surface of the moon, asteroids, and Mars. between convection and the solar magnetic fields, helping reveal the
Marshall engineers build the instruments and Marshall scientists manage source of high-energy particles and hard X-rays in large solar flares,
the science to study how changes in the sun’s magnetic field trigger and creating major new insights into the mechanisms that heat the solar
these explosive solar events. Information is shared with Marshall space atmosphere and produce the UV and X-ray emission. Marshall managed
weather experts who model the data for planned missions to ensure the development of the Hinode satellite’s scientific instrumentation and
future spacecraft are well prepared to withstand space environments. manages the U.S. portion of the science derived from the spacecraft’s
three advanced solar telescopes. Marshall engineers characterized and
Marshall heliophysicists work closely with the Center’s technical experts calibrated Hinode’s X-ray Telescope at its X-ray and Cryogenic Facility
in areas of high-energy optical instruments and materials science. The (XRCF) in 2005.
Center’s replication method for creating grazing-incidence optics is unique
in the nation and provides support to scientists studying high-energy solar SUMI
radiation. Marshall is also home to the High-Intensity Solar Environment Not all Marshall heliophysics projects are in orbit. NASA’s suborbital
Test (HISET) facility, which provides scientists and engineers with the sounding rocket program has proven to be a successful, low-cost method
means to test spacecraft materials and systems in a wide range of solar for Marshall scientists to study magnetic fields in a region of the sun
wind and solar photon environments. Featuring a solar simulator capable of where they have never been measured. Marshall scientists are currently
delivering approximately 1 MW/m2 of broad spectrum radiation at maximum studying the data from the successful Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph
power, HISET provides a means to test systems or components that could Investigation (SUMI), launched to study magnetic fields in the sun’s chro-
explore the solar corona. mosphere. No other instrument is looking at this layer of the Sun. The
SUMI development began as a set of programs to improve the efficiency
of polarization measurements in the ultraviolet.

Hi-C
The High-resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C) is an extreme ultraviolet
imaging telescope that produced the highest spatially resolved images of
the solar million-degree corona to date during its flight in 2012. Marshall
scientists and engineers designed and built the camera and mirror
systems for the Hi-C telescope. The clarity of the images help scientists
better understand the behavior of the solar atmosphere and its impacts
on Earth’s space environment.

High-Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun (HEROES)

Scientists from Marshall and Goddard Space Flight Center developed
HEROES, the High-Energy Replicated Optics to Explore the Sun, launched
in 2013 to study solar flares during the day and the stars at night. It is based
on the successful Marshall-designed High Energy Replicated Optics (HERO)
balloon-borne x-ray telescope. It featured 110 Marshall-fabricated, nickel-
alloy, hard x-ray mirrors focused onto 8 custom-built focal plane detectors.

Hinode’s X-ray Telescope was characterized

and calibrated at the XRCF in 2005.

www.nasa.gov/marshallcapabilities
Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) Modeling the Terrestrial
Also building on HERO’s success is the Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager
Magnetosphere
(FOXSI) mission to study solar nanoflares. Marshall engineers built it with
49 new iridium-coated nickel/cobalt mirror shells using its unique replicated The plasmasphere is a toroidal-shaped region surrounding the Earth that
optics manufacturing capability, saving time and money. is the extension of the ionosphere at sub-auroral latitudes. The region
is characterized by ionized gases, or plasmas, that are of much higher
Solar Probe Plus densities and lower energies than the radiation belts and other plasmas
Marshall scientists are developing instrument prototypes for the Solar in near-Earth space. As a result of its properties, plasmaspheric plasma
Probe Plus (SPP) mission set to launch in 2018 to sample the sun’s exerts a strong influence over the transport of mass and energy through
plasma and magnetic field closer than any previous spacecraft. Marshall space near Earth, consequently its behavior is critical to understand in
instruments will count electrons, protons and helium ions, and measure order to predict and protect people and machines from the damaging
their properties. high-energy particles that permeate this region.

The investigation will catch the solar wind in a Faraday cup, part of the The plasmasphere has been a topic of scientific research and exper-
Solar Wind Electrons, Alphas, and Protons (SWEAP) instrument. It will imental investigation at Marshall for over 35 years. This research has
enable researchers to determine the speed and direction of solar particles. resulted in the development of widely used empirical and dynamic models
SWEAP will be tested for performance and survivability at Marshall. of the plasmasphere. Recent research has focused on the details of
Because the Faraday cup must operate at temperatures exceeding plasmaspheric dynamics as it affects coupling between the Sun’s and
1,500 K, components of it will be fabricated at Marshall, leveraging Earth’s magnetic fields and the coupling between near-Earth space and
technology development in the field of advanced composite materials. the ionosphere.

Improving Space Weather

Forecasting
As the demand for space weather forecasting models grows, so does the
need for accurate models of the near-Earth space environment. Thus, it
is important to have reliable statistical models that accurately represent
the most probable state of the space environment for any given time and
location. Space-based and ground-based data sources from all over the
world are used to construct these models. However, with such a large
amount of data comes a need to organize those data in a way such that
trends within the data are easily discernable.

With the suite of data mining codes available at Marshall, scientists have
the capability to analyze large, complex data sets and quantitatively
identify fundamentally independent effects from consequential or derived
effects. Using these techniques, Marshall’s space weather researchers
have examined the accuracy of ionospheric climate models with respect
to trends in ionospheric parameters and space weather effects.

The team at Marshall has also worked in collaboration with teams at JSC
and UAH to develop a forecast tool called Mag4 for solar flares, coronal
mass ejections, and solar energetic particle events, based on near real-
time measurements of the solar surface magnetic field. Mag4 is a first
of its kind forecasting tool that is able to translate magnetic field patterns
Hi-C launches July 11, 2012 from White Sands Missile Range. on the solar surface into operational probability measures.
Hi-C captured the highest resolution imagery of the corona
ever captured, revealing features as small as 100 miles across.

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center | Core Capabilities and Services

 Suborbital Solutions: Low-cost, high-impact science
Launched aboard a sounding rocket in July 2012, Marshall’s Hi-C Long before Hi-C took flight, the telescope had to be tested. To
succeeded in capturing the highest-resolution images ever taken of perform the necessary tests, Marshall enhanced the XRCF and a
the sun’s corona. The image clarity can help scientists better under- vacuum chamber at its National Space Science and Technology Center
stand how the Sun’s atmosphere is heated, as well as understand to include a strong EUV source, an EUV monochromator for wave-
its behavior, and its impacts on Earth’s space environment. length calibrations, and the detectors and data system that would be
needed to support testing for space-based telescopes.
Data was acquired at a rate of roughly one image
every five seconds during its 620-second flight.
Its resolution is approximately five times more
detailed than the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly
(AIA) instrument aboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics
Observatory (SDO). For comparison, AIA can see
structures on the sun’s surface with the clarity of
approximately 675 miles and observes the sun in
10 wavelengths of light. Hi-C can resolve features
down to roughly 135 miles, but observed the sun
in just one wavelength of light.

The images were made possible because of inno-

vations on Hi-C’s optics array, led by Marshall.
The high-quality optics were aligned to determine
the spacing between the optics and the tilt of the
mirror with extreme accuracy. Scientists and
engineers worked to complete alignment of the
mirrors, maintaining optic spacing to within a few
ten-thousandths of an inch.

Hi-C image (bottom) compared to the same image from the

Atmospheric Imaging Assembly flying aboard NASA’s Solar
Dynamics Observatory (top), showing Hi-C’s superior resolution.

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George C. Marshall Space Flight Center and more provided by Marshall Space Flight Center:
Huntsville, AL 35812 www.nasa.gov/marshallcapabilities 
www.nasa.gov/marshall
Launching the Future of
www.nasa.gov Science and Exploration

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