UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

SMILE: A novel way to explore solar-terrestrial interactions

Branduardi-Raymont, G; Wang, C; (2022) SMILE: A novel way to explore solar-terrestrial interactions. In: Handbook of X-ray and Gamma-ray Astrophysics. Springer: Cham, Switzerland.

[thumbnail of Section_VII_SMILE_science_250722.pdf] Text
Section_VII_SMILE_science_250722.pdf - Accepted Version
Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 8 December 2024.

Download (1MB)

Abstract

This chapter describes the scientific motivations that led to the development of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) mission. The solar wind coupling with the terrestrial magnetosphere is a key link in Sun-Earth interactions. In situ missions can provide detailed observations of plasma and magnetic field conditions in the solar wind and the magnetosphere, but leave us still unable to fully quantify the global effects of the drivers of Sun-Earth connections and to monitor their evolution. This information is essential to develop a comprehensive understanding of how the Sun controls the Earth’s plasma environment and space weather. SMILE offers a new approach to global monitoring of geospace by imaging the magnetosheath and cusps in X-rays emitted when high charge-state solar wind ions exchange charges with exospheric neutrals. SMILE combines this with simultaneous UV imaging of the northern aurora and in situ plasma and magnetic field measurements in the magnetosheath and solar wind from a highly elliptical northern polar orbit. In this chapter, the science that SMILE will explore and the scientific preparations that will ensure the optimal exploitation of SMILE measurements are presented.

Type: Book chapter
Title: SMILE: A novel way to explore solar-terrestrial interactions
ISBN-13: 978-981-16-4544-0
DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-4544-0_76-1
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4544-0_76-1
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Earth’s magnetosphere, Solar wind, Charge exchange X-rays, Imaging
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10152678
Downloads since deposit
2Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item