TY - JOUR

T1 - Magnetospheric Venus Space Explorers (MVSE) mission: A proposal for understanding the dynamics of induced magnetospheres

AU - Albers, Roland

AU - Andrews, Henrik

AU - Boccacci, Gabriele

AU - Castro Pires, Vasco Daniel

AU - Laddha, Sunny

AU - Lundén, Ville

AU - Maraqten, Nadim

AU - Matias, João

AU - Krämer, Eva

AU - Schulz, Leonard

AU - Palanca, Inés Terraza

AU - Teubenbacher, Daniel

AU - Baskevitch, Claire

AU - Covella, Francesca

AU - Cressa, Luca

AU - Moreno, Juan Garrido

AU - Gillmayr, Jana

AU - Hollowood, Joshua

AU - Huber, Kilian

AU - Kutnohorsky, Viktoria

AU - Lennerstrand, Sofia

AU - Malatinszky, Adel

AU - Manzini, Davide

AU - Maurer, Manuel

AU - Nidelea, Daiana Maria Alessandra

AU - Rigon, Luca

AU - Sinjan, Jonas

AU - Suarez, Crisel

AU - Viviano, Mirko

AU - Knutsen, Elise Wright

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)

PY - 2024/5/19

Y1 - 2024/5/19

N2 - Induced magnetospheres form around planetary bodies with atmospheres through the interaction of the solar wind with their ionosphere. Induced magnetospheres are highly dependent on the solar wind conditions and have only been studied with single spacecraft missions in the past. Without simultaneous measurements of solar wind variations and phenomena in the magnetosphere, establishing a link between both can only be done indirectly, using statistics over a large set of measurements. This gap in knowledge could be addressed by a multi-spacecraft plasma mission, optimized for studying global spatial and temporal variations in the magnetospheric system around Venus, which hosts the most prominent example of an induced magnetosphere in our solar system. The MVSE mission comprises four satellites, of which three are identical scientific spacecraft, carrying the same suite of instruments probing different regions of the induced magnetosphere and the solar wind simultaneously. The fourth spacecraft is the transfer vehicle which acts as a relay satellite for communications at Venus. In this way, changes in the solar wind conditions and extreme solar events can be observed, and their effects can be quantified as they propagate through the Venusian induced magnetosphere. Additionally, energy transfer in the Venusian induced magnetosphere can be investigated. The scientific payload includes instrumentation to measure the magnetic field, electric field, and ion–electron velocity distributions. This study presents the scientific motivation for the mission as well as requirements and the resulting mission design. Concretely, a mission timeline along with a complete spacecraft design, including mass, power, communication, propulsion and thermal budgets are given. This mission was initially conceived at the Alpbach Summer School 2022 and refined during a week-long study at ESA’s Concurrent Design Facility in Redu, Belgium.

AB - Induced magnetospheres form around planetary bodies with atmospheres through the interaction of the solar wind with their ionosphere. Induced magnetospheres are highly dependent on the solar wind conditions and have only been studied with single spacecraft missions in the past. Without simultaneous measurements of solar wind variations and phenomena in the magnetosphere, establishing a link between both can only be done indirectly, using statistics over a large set of measurements. This gap in knowledge could be addressed by a multi-spacecraft plasma mission, optimized for studying global spatial and temporal variations in the magnetospheric system around Venus, which hosts the most prominent example of an induced magnetosphere in our solar system. The MVSE mission comprises four satellites, of which three are identical scientific spacecraft, carrying the same suite of instruments probing different regions of the induced magnetosphere and the solar wind simultaneously. The fourth spacecraft is the transfer vehicle which acts as a relay satellite for communications at Venus. In this way, changes in the solar wind conditions and extreme solar events can be observed, and their effects can be quantified as they propagate through the Venusian induced magnetosphere. Additionally, energy transfer in the Venusian induced magnetosphere can be investigated. The scientific payload includes instrumentation to measure the magnetic field, electric field, and ion–electron velocity distributions. This study presents the scientific motivation for the mission as well as requirements and the resulting mission design. Concretely, a mission timeline along with a complete spacecraft design, including mass, power, communication, propulsion and thermal budgets are given. This mission was initially conceived at the Alpbach Summer School 2022 and refined during a week-long study at ESA’s Concurrent Design Facility in Redu, Belgium.

KW - Induced magnetosphere

KW - Mission concept

KW - Multi-spacecraft mission

KW - Space Plasma Physics

KW - Venus

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85194065007&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.actaastro.2024.05.017

DO - 10.1016/j.actaastro.2024.05.017

M3 - Article

VL - 221.2024

SP - 194

EP - 205

JO - Acta astronautica

JF - Acta astronautica

SN - 0094-5765

IS - August

ER -