Solar Orbiter RPW

Solar Orbiter is an M1 mission within ESA´s Cosmic Vision launched on February 10, 2020. The mission has taken the closest look at our Sun possible until now.

Solar Orbiter approaches the Sun at a distance of just 62 solar radii and delivers images of the Sun and solar atmosphere and in situ data of solar wind plasma.

One of the primary scientific goals of the mission is to determine in situ the properties and dynamics of plasma, fields, and particles in the near-Sun heliosphere.

Important topics include identifying coronal heating remnants, solar wind turbulence, magnetic reconnection, and shock formation within coronal mass ejections. To study this, among ten instruments of the Solar Orbiter, four instruments carry out in situ measurements.

One of these is the instrument RPW (Radio and Plasma Waves), measuring magnetic and electric fields at high temporal resolution using several electric and magnetic antennas to determine the characteristics of electromagnetic and electrostatic waves in the solar wind.

The Swedish contribution (IRF, Uppsala, and KTH) to the RPW instrument is preamplifiers and current biasing circuits (BIAS boards) for the electric antennas of the RPW instrument.

This proposal requests funding to cover the work necessary for the Swedish contribution to the RPW instrument for 2025-2027. The application covers ground software and general support.