Uranus in NASA's Heliophysics Decadal Survey 2024-33
A new National Academies’ decadal survey - The Next Decade of Discovery in Solar and Space Physics: Exploring and Safeguarding Humanity’s Home in Space - was released today, showcasing a potential US strategy for solar and space physics over the next decade. You can get an overview of the survey here, which identifies two science themes - exploring the secrets of the local cosmos (chapter 2, a science theme), and safeguarding humanity’s home in space (chapter 3, a space weather theme). A press release on the survey is here.
Naturally I was interested in overlaps between the Heliophysics decadal survey and the Planetary decadal survey from a couple of years ago. These topics meet in the science theme (our local cosmos), which is further subdivided into the following elements:
Sun-Earth-Space: Understand the complex interactions amongst the different parts of heliosystems - vast reservoirs of plasmas, energetic particles, and electromagnetic fields, from deep in the Sun's interior to phenomena closer to Earth such as auroras.
A Laboratory in Space: Explore the fundamental processes that give rise to some of the most spectacular and intriguing phenomena in the solar system and present opportunities to advance understanding.
New Environments: Study Earth’s interaction with its space environment and our own system’s heliosphere, to enable us to better understand conditions in other planetary systems.
You can read the whole consensus report for free here. Uranus had featured prominently in the previous heliophysics decadal (2013), and it’s great to see broad support for a Uranus Flagship mission here too.
In the summary, discussing an Integrated HelioSystems Laboratory, the report mentions that “there are important opportunities for major scientific discoveries via NASA missions that cross divisional boundaries, such as Uranus Orbiter Probe,” and notes that “future mission needs are shared across divisions within NASA’s SMD (such as missions to Uranus or interstellar space) and call for investment and coordination at the SMD level.”
In Chapter 2 (p76), the report described Uranus as “the closest representative of an ice giant planet, understanding how this magnetosphere differs from that of Jupiter and Saturn is important for modeling of exo-ice giants around other stars.”
Theme 3 in the local cosmos chapter is called “New Environments: Exploring our Cosmic Neighborhood and Beyond,” (Section 2.3) and the guiding question “What Can We Learn from Comparative Studies of Planetary Systems?” (Section 2.3.3) mentions UOP in multiple places.
When discussing Mass and Energy Flow Processes Driving Planetary Magnetospheres, the report recommends that “from a space science perspective, it is key that such a mission [UOP] carry sufficient particles and fields instrumentation to fully explore the unique magnetosphere of Uranus.” When exploring Interactions of Plasmas with Atmospheres and Solid Body Surfaces, the report mentions the planned icy satellite flybys of UOP, and suggests that “making the most of these exciting new data sets requires funding for interdisciplinary data analysis and modeling studies.” In the section on the Diversity of Auroral Processes, the report describes how UOP “will use its auroral instrumentation to observe the auroral emissions generated by Uranus’s complex magnetic field interaction with the solar wind.” This section lists “Remote sensing of aurora (ultraviolet [UV], visible, infrared, and radio) and in situ particles and fields measurements in polar regions of Uranus” as a specific observation need.
Section 5.4.4 discusses Cross-Divisional and Cross-Directorate Coordination at NASA, recognising that “Transformational research is often found at the boundaries between disciplines, and both cross-agency and cross-divisional collaboration have proven to be highly productive.” Their recommendation 5-20 states:
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Science Mission Directorate (SMD) should develop a cross-divisional approach for planning, operation, and management of future projects and programs for interdisciplinary science.
Specifically, coordinate inclusion of interdisciplinary instruments on flagship missions to diversify science opportunities (e.g., include particles and fields instruments on Uranus Orbiter Probe).
Appendix C (Report of the Panel on the Physics of Magnetospheres) discusses opportunities for collaboration, and has a full section (p412) on collaboration with the Planetary Division on the Uranus Mission. It states:
Multiple community input papers presented magnetospheric and M-I coupling science questions at Uranus. These largely echo the recommendation from the 2013 decadal survey, which recommended that “NASA’s Heliophysics Division partner with the Planetary Division to ensure that appropriate magnetospheric instrumentation be fielded on missions to other planets. In particular, the [Solar Wind–Magnetosphere Interactions] SWMI panel’s highest priority in planetary magnetospheres is a mission to orbit Uranus.”
Having summarised the unique conditions expected in the Uranian magnetosphere, it recommends “the inclusion of a comprehensive particles and fields payload complement with the necessary resource allocations for magnetospheric investigations is needed on any future planetary science mission to Uranus.” It states that “ensuring robust magnetospheric investigations at Uranus … would provide detailed physical insight into multiple global magnetospheric processes of relevance to both the planetary science and space physics communities.” Section C.6 states that “contributions to the Planetary Science Division Uranus mission are a cost-effective way to make immediate progress on the Longer-Range Goal.” These long-range goals are encapsulated in Table C-9, copied below:
With such an ambitious programme for the 2030s and 40s, the Uranus mission will certainly need cross-divisional support, so it’s great to see the alignment of the scientific goals, even if the prioritisation is necessarily different between the two divisions. With potentially turbulent times ahead for the space programmes in both the USA and Europe, it remains to be seen whether Uranus Flagship can reach the Ice Giant by equinox in 2050.
