US ncy NASA has selected five proposals for concept studies of missions to help improve understanding of dynamics of Sun and constantly changing environment with which it interacts around Earth. information will improve understanding of universe as well as offer key information to help protect astronauts, satellites, and communications signals – such as GPS – in .

ncy will grant $1.25 million to each of se Medium-Class Explorer proposals to conduct a nine-month mission concept study. Following study period, NASA will choose up to two proposals to go forward to launch. Each potential mission has a separate launch opportunity and timeframe.

“We constantly seek missions that use cutting edge techlogy and vel approaches to push boundaries of science,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate ministrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “Each one of se proposals offers chance to observe something we have never before seen or to provide unprecedented insights into key areas of research, all to furr exploration of universe we live in.”

proposals were selected based on potential science value and feasibility of development plans, ncy said. cost for investigation ultimately chosen for a flight will be capped at $250 million and is funded by NASA’s Heliophysics Explorers’ program.  

proposals selected for concept studies are:

Solar-Terrestrial Observer for Response of Magnetosphere (STORM)

STORM would provide first-ever global view of our vast wear system in which constant flow of particles from Sun – kwn as solar wind – interacts with Earth's magnetic field system, called magnetosphere. Tackling some of most pressing questions in magnetospheric science, this comprehensive data set would provide a systemwide view of events in magnetosphere to observe how one region affects ar, helping to untangle how wear phemena circulate around our planet.

HelioSwarm: Nature of Turbulence in Plasmas

HelioSwarm would observe solar wind over a wide range of scales in order to determine fundamental physics processes that le energy from large-scale motion to casce down to finer scales of particle movement within plasma that fills , a process that les to heating of such plasma.

RE | NASA Scientist Reveals Sun's Early Behaviour Impacted Development Of Life On Earth

RE | Big Milestone: NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Powered Up In For First Time

Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE)

MUSE would provide high-cence observations of mechanisms driving an array of processes and events in Sun's atmosphere – corona – including what drives solar eruptions such as solar flares, as well as what heats corona to temperatures far above that of solar surface.

Auroral Reconstruction CubeSwarm (ARCS)

ARCS would explore processes that contribute to aurora at size scales that have been rarely studied: at intermediate scale between smaller, local phemena leing directly to visible aurora and larger, global dynamics of wear system coursing through iosphere and rmosphere. ding crucial information to understanding physics at border between our atmosphere and , se observations would provide insight into entire magnetospheric system surrounding Earth.

Solaris: Revealing Mysteries of Sun’s Poles

Solaris would observe three solar rotations over each of Sun's poles to obtain observations of light, magnetic fields, and movement in Sun's surface, photosphere. Better kwledge of physical processes visible from pole is necessary to understand global dynamics of entire Sun, including how magnetic fields evolve and move throughout star, leing to periods of great solar activity and eruptions approximately every 11 years.

RE | NASA Captures Distant Nebula W51, One Of Largest 'star Factories' In Milky Way

RE | NASA Creates Fifth State Of Matter Aboard International Station