JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Weather
.

NASA Selects Mission to Study Causes of Giant Solar Particle Storms

March 30, 2020
A new NASA mission called SunRISE will study what drives solar particle storms - giant surges of solar particles that erupt off of the Sun - as depicted in this illustration. Understanding how such storms affect interplanetary space can help protect spacecraft and astronauts. Credits: NASA

An array of six spacecraft, each about the size of a toaster oven, will help us understand our nearest star and better protect astronauts traveling beyond Earth.

NASA has selected a new mission to study how the Sun generates and releases giant space weather storms - known as solar particle storms - into planetary space. Not only will such information improve understanding of how our solar system works, but it ultimately can help protect astronauts traveling to the Moon and Mars by providing better information on how the Sun's radiation affects the space environment they must travel through.

The new mission, called the Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE), is an array of six CubeSats operating as one very large radio telescope. NASA has awarded $62.6 million to design, build and launch SunRISE by no earlier than July 1, 2023.

NASA chose SunRISE in August 2017 as one of two Mission of Opportunity proposals to conduct an 11-month mission concept study. In February 2019, the agency approved a continued formulation study of the mission for an additional year. SunRISE is led by Justin Kasper at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

"We are so pleased to add a new mission to our fleet of spacecraft that help us better understand the Sun, as well as how our star influences the space environment between planets," said Nicky Fox, director of NASA's Heliophysics Division. "The more we know about how the Sun erupts with space weather events, the more we can mitigate their effects on spacecraft and astronauts."

The mission design relies on six solar-powered CubeSats - each about the size of a toaster oven - to simultaneously observe radio images of low-frequency emission from solar activity and share them via NASA's Deep Space Network. The constellation of CubeSats will fly within 6 miles (10 kilometers) of each other, above Earth's atmosphere, which otherwise blocks the radio signals SunRISE will observe. Together, the six CubeSats will create 3D maps to pinpoint where giant particle bursts originate on the Sun and how they evolve as they expand outward into space. This, in turn, will help determine what initiates and accelerates these giant jets of radiation. The six individual spacecraft will also work together to map, for the first time, the pattern of magnetic field lines reaching from the Sun out into interplanetary space.

NASA's Missions of Opportunity maximize science return by pairing new, relatively inexpensive missions with launches on spacecraft already approved and preparing to go into space. SunRISE proposed an approach for access to space as a hosted rideshare on a commercial satellite provided by Maxar of Westminster, Colorado, and built with a Payload Orbital Delivery System, or PODS. Once in orbit, the host spacecraft will deploy the six SunRISE spacecraft and then continue its prime mission.

Missions of Opportunity are part of the Explorers Program, which is the oldest continuous NASA program designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space using principal investigator-led space science investigations relevant to the Science Mission Directorate's (SMD) astrophysics and heliophysics programs. The program is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for SMD, which conducts a wide variety of research and scientific exploration programs for Earth studies, space weather, the solar system and universe.

For more information about the Explorers Program, visit:

https://explorers.gsfc.nasa.gov

For information about NASA's heliophysics missions and activities, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/sunearth

News Media Contact

Grey Hautaluoma / Karen Fox

NASA Headquarters, Washington

202-358-0668 / 301-286-6284

grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov / karen.fox@nasa.gov

Calla Cofield

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

626-808-2469

calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov

2020-058

Related News

Earth .

Joint NASA, CNES Water-Tracking Satellite Reveals First Stunning Views

Climate Change .

NASA Uses 30-Year Satellite Record to Track and Project Rising Seas

Weather .

Ranking Atmospheric Rivers: New Study Finds World of Potential

Solar System .

NASA’s Magellan Data Reveals Volcanic Activity on Venus

Mars .

Engineers Keep an Eye on Fuel Supply of NASA’s Oldest Mars Orbiter

Stars and Galaxies .

NASA’s Webb Telescope Captures Rarely Seen Prelude to Supernova

Solar System .

Study Finds Ocean Currents May Affect Rotation of Europa’s Icy Crust

Earth .

NASA and Italian Space Agency Join Forces on Air Pollution Mission

Earth .

NASA-ISRO Science Instruments Arrive in India Ahead of 2024 Launch

Climate Change .

NASA Space Mission Takes Stock of Carbon Dioxide Emissions by Countries

Explore More

Event April 20, 2023 .

Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) Mission

Video .

What's Up - April 2023

Image .

Sea Level Visualization of Gulf Stream

Image .

SWOT Satellite's Land 'First Light'

Image .

SWOT Satellite's Sea Level 'First Light'

Image .

Mir Diamond Mine, Siberia

Image .

30 Years of Sea Level Rise

Image .

Chausey, French Channel Islands

Mission .

ASTHROS

Video .

What's Up - March 2023

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors
Careers
Internships
The JPL Story
JPL Achievements
Documentary Series
Annual Reports
Missions
Current
Past
Future
All
News
All
Earth
Solar System
Stars and Galaxies
Subscribe to JPL News
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Apps
Visions of the Future
Slice of History
Robotics at JPL
Events
Lecture Series
Team Competitions
Speakers Bureau
Calendar
Visit
Public Tours
Virtual Tour
Directions and Maps
Topics
JPL Life
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Exoplanets
Stars and Galaxies
Robotics
More
Asteroid Watch
NASA's Eyes Visualizations
Universe - Internal Newsletter
Social Media
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Managers: Veronica McGregor, Randal Jackson
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Naomi Hartono
CL#: 21-0018