Heliophysics Science Division - NASA's GSFC
About the HSD
THE DIVISION'S MISSION :
- Explore the solar atmosphere and its interactions with the Earth.
- Lead the conception and development of solar and space physics missions.
- Communicate science progress to the public and inspire the next generation of scientists.
FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS :
- How does the changing Sun affect the Earth, its environments, and its atmosphere, across all time scales?
- How do terrestrial changes (such as geomagnetism) affect the solar wind interaction?
- How is the living Earth system affected by Earth's internal, surface and atmospheric dynamics?
- How does the changing Sun affect the heliosphere, including robotic and human heliospheric explorers?
PRIMARY RESEARCH AREAS :
- Solar convection and magnetic activity
- Coronal disturbances and Solar Energetic Particle acceleration
- Heliospheric structure and dynamics
- Heliospheric interaction with cosmic rays and interstellar medium
- Magnetospheric coupling of the solar wind and geospace
- Magnetospheric meteorology
- Ionospheric response to solar energy inputs
- Integrated system science including atmospheric coupling.
OBSERVING TECHNIQUES :
- Spectral photon imagers
- Neutral atom imagers
- Magnetometers
- Electric field double probes
- Radio sounders
- Plasma velocity analyzers
PROJECTS :
| Operational : | In Development : |
|---|---|
| Voyager, Ulysses, Messenger, Geotail, SOHO, ACE, Wind, Polar, TRACE, Cluster, IMAGE, RHESSI, Cassini | Stereo, Solar-B, THEMIS, SDO, C/NOFS, MMS, IBEX, LRO, MMC, ITSP, RBSP, Solar Probe, Sentinels, MAO |
CROSSCUTTING RESEARCH :
| With Solar System Exploration Division : | With Exporation of the Universe Division : |
|---|---|
| Solar variability, solar mass ejections, solar wind, CME propagation, planetary magnetospheres, upper atmospheres, space weather | Solar energetic particles and galactic cosmic rays |
