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A close partnership between people and partially autonomous machines has enabled decades of space exploration. But to further expand our horizons, our systems must become more capable. Increasing the nature and degree of autonomy - allowing…
The primary challenge of rocket propulsion is the burden of needing to accelerate the spacecraft's own fuel, resulting in only a logarithmic gain in maximum speed as propellant is added to the spacecraft. Light sails offer an attractive…
Gaps in space weather observations that can be addressed with small satellites are identified. Potential improvements in solar inputs to space weather models, space radiation control, estimations of energy budget of the upper Earth's…
Current spacecraft missions such as Wind and ACE can be used to determine magnetic correlation functions in the solar wind. Data sets from these missions can, in principle, also be used to compute so-called Eulerian correlation functions.…
In this work, we assess the potential detectability of solar panels made of silicon on an Earth-like exoplanet as a potential technosignature. Silicon-based photovoltaic cells have high reflectance in the UV-VIS and in the near-IR, within…
Understanding the nature of energetic particles in the solar atmosphere is one of the most important outstanding problems in heliophysics. Flare-accelerated particles compose a huge fraction of the flare energy budget; they have large…
Lightsail spacecraft, propelled to relativistic velocities via photon pressure using high power density laser radiation, offer a potentially new route to space exploration within and beyond the solar system, extending to interstellar…
We present initial results of an ongoing engineering study on the feasibility of a space mission to the focal region of the solar gravitational lens (SGL). The mission goal is to conduct exoplanet imaging operations at heliocentric…
The heliosphere represents a uniquely accessible domain of space, where fundamental physical processes common to solar, astrophysical and laboratory plasmas can be studied under conditions impossible to reproduce on Earth and unfeasible to…
Scientists across all disciplines share a common challenge: the divide between their theoretical knowledge and the specialized skills and time needed to build interactive tools to communicate this expertise. While large language models…
Solar and Heliosphere physics are areas of remarkable data-driven discoveries. Recent advances in high-cadence, high-resolution multiwavelength observations, growing amounts of data from realistic modeling, and operational needs for…
NASA's Parker Solar Probe and ESA/NASA's Solar Orbiter are encounter missions that are currently both in their nominal science phases, venturing closer to the Sun than ever before. These complementary spacecraft are operating together in…
Solar jets are ubiquitous transient collimated mass outflows in the solar atmosphere over a wide range of sizes from small scale nanojets to a few solar radii, embedded in the solar chromosphere to solar corona. Jets are frequently…
There is an opportunity to advance both solar system and extrasolar planetary studies that does not require the construction of new telescopes or new missions but better use and access to inter-disciplinary data sets. This approach…
Electromagnetic propulsion technology has been thought to provide a potential form of future spacecraft propulsion for some time. In contrast to ion thrusters, which utilize the Coulomb force to accelerate positively charged species,…
The fields of solar radiophysics and solar system radio physics, or radio heliophysics, will benefit immensely from an instrument with the capabilities projected for SKA. Potential applications include interplanetary scintillation (IPS),…
Observations of magnetic helicity transportation through the solar photosphere reflect the interaction of turbulent plasma movements and magnetic fields in the solar dynamo process. In this chapter, we have reviewed the research process of…
Solar flares are transient yet dramatic events in the atmosphere of the Sun, during which a vast amount of magnetic energy is liberated. This energy is subsequently transported through the solar atmosphere or into the heliosphere, and…
The Solar Close Observations and Proximity Experiments (SCOPE) mission will send a spacecraft into the solar atmosphere at a low altitude of just 5 R_sun from the solar center. It aims to elucidate the mechanisms behind solar eruptions and…
The magnetic fields and dynamical processes in the solar polar regions play a crucial role in the solar magnetic cycle and in supplying mass and energy to the fast solar wind, ultimately being vital in controlling solar activities and…