Turbulence Heating ObserveR – THOR: Mission overview and payload\nsummary

0459674 - ÚFA 2017 DE eng A - Abstract
Wielders, A. - Boudin, N. - Vaivads, A. - Khotyaintsev, Y. - Lavraud, B. - Sahraoui, F. - Nakamura, R. - Owen, C. - Fazakerley, A. - Němeček, Z. - Souček, Jan - Marcucci, F. - Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. - Retino, A. - Gehler, M. - Escoubet, P.
Turbulence Heating ObserveR – THOR: Mission overview and payload
summary.
Geophysical Research Abstracts. Göttingen: European Geosciences Union, 2016. EGU2016-15629-2. ISSN 1607-7962.
[EGU General Assembly 2016. 17.04.2016-22.04.2016, Vienna]
Institutional support: RVO:68378289
Keywords : Turbulence Heating ObserveR – THOR * plasma turbulence
Subject RIV: BL - Plasma and Gas Discharge Physics
http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2016/EGU2016-15629-2.pdf

The Turbulence Heating ObserveR (THOR) mission was selected as one of the three candidates of the Call for
Medium Class Missions M4 in the European Space Agency’s Science Programme with a launch planned in 2026.
THOR is the first mission ever flown in space dedicated to plasma turbulence. THOR will lead to an understanding
of the basic plasma heating and particle energization processes, of their effect on different plasma species and of
their relative importance in different turbulent regimes. The THOR mission features one single spinning spacecraft
with 10 scientific instruments focusing on particular regions in three different elliptical orbits around the Earth;
pristine solar wind, Earth’s bow shock and interplanetary shocks, and compressed solar wind regions downstream
of shocks.
These regions are selected because of their differing turbulent fluctuation characteristics, and reflect similar astrophysical
environments. The THOR mission, the conceptual design of the spacecraft and a summary of the payload
will be presented. Furthermore, driving requirements and their implications for the spacecraft like Electromagnetic
Compatibility and cleanliness will be discussed.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0259853