Future Exploration of the Outer Heliosphere and Very Local Interstellar Medium by Interstellar Probe

P C Brandt; E Provornikova; S D Bale; A Cocoros; R DeMajistre; K Dialynas; H A Elliott; S Eriksson; B Fields; A Galli; M E Hill; M Horanyi; T Horbury; S Hunziker; P Kollmann; J Kinnison; G Fountain; S M Krimigis; W S Kurth; J Linsky; C M Lisse; K E Mandt; W Magnes; R L McNutt; J Miller; E Moebius; P Mostafavi; M Opher; L Paxton; F Plaschke; A R Poppe; E C Roelof; K Runyon; S Redfield; N Schwadron; V Sterken; P Swaczyna; J Szalay; D Turner; H Vannier; R Wimmer-Schweingruber; P Wurz; E J Zirnstein

doi:10.1007/s11214-022-00943-x

Future Exploration of the Outer Heliosphere and Very Local Interstellar Medium by Interstellar Probe

Space Sci Rev. 2023;219(2):18. doi: 10.1007/s11214-022-00943-x. Epub 2023 Feb 28.

Authors

P C Brandt¹, E Provornikova¹, S D Bale², A Cocoros¹, R DeMajistre¹, K Dialynas³, H A Elliott⁴, S Eriksson⁵, B Fields⁶, A Galli⁷, M E Hill¹, M Horanyi⁵, T Horbury⁸, S Hunziker⁹, P Kollmann¹, J Kinnison¹, G Fountain¹, S M Krimigis³, W S Kurth¹⁰, J Linsky¹¹, C M Lisse¹, K E Mandt¹, W Magnes¹², R L McNutt¹, J Miller¹³, E Moebius¹⁴, P Mostafavi¹, M Opher¹³, L Paxton¹, F Plaschke¹⁵, A R Poppe², E C Roelof¹, K Runyon¹⁶, S Redfield¹⁷, N Schwadron¹⁴, V Sterken⁹, P Swaczyna¹⁸, J Szalay¹⁸, D Turner¹, H Vannier¹⁷, R Wimmer-Schweingruber¹⁹, P Wurz⁷, E J Zirnstein¹⁸

Affiliations

¹ The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD USA.
² University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA USA.
³ Office of Space Research and Technology, Academy of Athens, Athens, 10679 Greece.
⁴ Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX USA.
⁵ Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO USA.
⁶ University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL USA.
⁷ University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁸ Imperial College London, London, UK.
⁹ ETH, Zurich, Switzerland.
¹⁰ University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA USA.
¹¹ University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO USA.
¹² Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria.
¹³ Boston University, Boston, MA USA.
¹⁴ University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH USA.
¹⁵ Technical University Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany.
¹⁶ Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ USA.
¹⁷ Weslayan University, Middeltown, CT USA.
¹⁸ Princeton University, Princeton, NJ USA.
¹⁹ University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany.

Abstract

A detailed overview of the knowledge gaps in our understanding of the heliospheric interaction with the largely unexplored Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM) are provided along with predictions of with the scientific discoveries that await. The new measurements required to make progress in this expanding frontier of space physics are discussed and include in-situ plasma and pick-up ion measurements throughout the heliosheath, direct sampling of the VLISM properties such as elemental and isotopic composition, densities, flows, and temperatures of neutral gas, dust and plasma, and remote energetic neutral atom (ENA) and Lyman-alpha (LYA) imaging from vantage points that can uniquely discern the heliospheric shape and bring new information on the interaction with interstellar hydrogen. The implementation of a pragmatic Interstellar Probe mission with a nominal design life to reach 375 Astronomical Units (au) with likely operation out to 550 au are reported as a result of a 4-year NASA funded mission study.

Keywords: Interstellar medium; Interstellar probe; Outer heliosphere.

Publication types

Review