HR: 17:15h
AN: SH42E-06 INVITED     [PDF]
TI: Scientific Goals of the Solar Imaging Radio Array
AU: * MacDowall, R J
EM: robert.macdowall@nasa.gov
AF: NASA/Goddard SFC, Code 695, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AB: The Solar Imaging Radio Array (SIRA) will be a constellation of about 16 microsatellites designed to image radio sources in the solar corona and heliosphere using aperture synthesis techniques. These images will permit the mapping and tracking of CME-driven shocks (type II radio bursts) and solar flare electrons (type III radio bursts) as a function of time from near the sun to 1 AU. Two dimensional imaging of the CME-driven shock front is important for determination of space weather effects of CMEs. Imaging of the more frequent type III bursts will permit the derivation of density maps in the outer corona and solar wind. Certain intense type III bursts provide valuable information about particle acceleration and SEP events. SIRA will be the first mission to image the heliosphere (and the celestial sphere) with good angular resolution at frequencies below the ionospheric cutoff (~10 MHz). The radio images are intrinsically complementary to white-light coronagraph data, such as those of SDO, and can play a valuable role in the NASA Living with a Star program. In this presentation, I will present the scientific goals of SIRA with attention to the new results that will be possible.
DE: 2111 Ejecta, driver gases, and magnetic clouds
DE: 2139 Interplanetary shocks
DE: 6954 Radio astronomy
DE: 7513 Coronal mass ejections
DE: 7534 Radio emissions
SC: SPA - Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting