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PUNCH Mission: Advancing Solar and Heliospheric Understanding

Explore the PUNCH mission as part of NASA's SMEX programme, with polarimetry data aiming to study solar wind dynamics.

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PUNCH Mission: Advancing Solar and Heliospheric Understanding

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  1. 2019 Solar Missions Forum The PUNCH Mission Jackie Davies

  2. NASA SMEX SMALL EXPLORER PROGRAMME (HELIOPHYSICS & ASTROPHYSICS) • Previous heliophysics SMEX missions: • SAMPEX: Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer • FAST: Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer • TRACE: Transition Region and Coronal Explorer • RHESSI: Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscope Imager • AIM: Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere • IRIS: Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph • IBEX: Interstellar Boundary Explorer

  3. In July 2016, NASA released an AO to pursue a mission under its Heliophysics SMEX programme. Five missions were selected in July 2017 to conduct an 11-month concept (Phase A) study (mission cost-cap $165M): • Mechanisms of Energetic Mass Ejection – eXplorer (MEME-X): will map mass flux from the upper atmosphere to space, transforming our understanding of ion outflow. PI: Thomas Moore (GSFC) • Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI): is a solar hard X-Ray telescope that will detect hot plasma and energetic electrons in and near energy release sites in the solar corona. PI: Steven Christe (GSFC) • Multi-Slit Solar Explorer (MUSE): will advance understanding of the mechanisms responsible for energy release in the corona and the dynamics of the solar atmosphere. PI: Ted Tarbell (LMSAL) • Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS): will further knowledge of global variability in magnetopause reconnection by unique in-situ measurements. PI: Craig Kletzing (Univ. Iowa) • Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH)…

  4. PUNCH Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere • One of five Heliophysics Small Explorer (SMEX) missions selected to conduct an 11-month concept (Phase A) study • PI: Craig deForest, from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, US • Through polarized Thomson-scatter imaging of the transition from corona to heliosphere, PUNCH will advance our understanding of (1) how coronal structures fuel the ambient solar wind with mass and energy, and (2) the dynamic evolution of transient structures in the young solar wind (near the source surface).

  5. PUNCH Mission Structure • Four LEO smallsats in twilight sun-synchronized orbits • One spacecraft hosts a Narrow-Field Imager, NFI (NRL) • Three spacecraft each host a Wide-Field Imager, WFI (SwRI) • All four instruments image in broad-band visible light, with polarization capability

  6. PUNCH Observing Strategy • Cameras synchronized and matched in wavelength • pB(two polarizations) and B measurements • Rapid deep-field imaging: 4-min cadence • Polarization enables 3D inversion

  7. PUNCH Science Strategy

  8. PUNCH Timeline Phase A completion (CSR submission): 30th July 2018 Selection: April 2019 [potentially 2] Phase B: May 2019 Phase C/D: April 2020 Launch: December 2022 Disposal: December 2024

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