In a groundbreaking move, a team of researchers from the UK, including Professor Lucie Green from UCL, are working on a spacecraft mission that will allow us to study the sun’s atmosphere in unprecedented detail. The proposed MESOM mission aims to re-create total solar eclipses in space, lasting up to 50 minutes – far longer than the 7.5-minute eclipses we can observe on Earth. This will enable scientists to gain new insights into the physical processes that drive space weather, which can disrupt power grids, satellites, and other critical technologies we rely on.
Unveiling the Sun’s Secrets
MESOM is a landmark mission that will offer researchers the unprecedented opportunity to explore the sun’s corona—the outer atmosphere layer of the Sun—up close. In a total solar eclipse, the moon’s shadow gives astronomers an opportunity to see the sun’s corona in much finer detail — and that can show them what physical processes are producing solar activity myriad space weather.
By making these eclipses in space, the MESOM team will capture images and measurements of the sun’s corona for up to 50 minutes, instead of just a couple of fleeting moments during an eclipse on Earth. That would fill holes in what we know about the solar atmosphere and the processes that trigger solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which can have strong effects on our modern technological infrastructure.
Safeguarding Our Digital Days Ahead
The threat of space weather disruptions has become more acute as our planet relies more and ever-larger ensemble of wireless technologies and satellite-based systems. We have all seen disaster movies in which solar flares, and correlate mass rejections results massive power grid failures, satellite crashes and communications disturbances making people scramble around planet Earth to cope with the consequences in civilization.
The mission of MESOM is to improve the accuracy of those forecasts, providing a higher resolution and issuing more substantial actions. A better understanding of the processes responsible for space weather can help protect our society against their most serious impacts and produce more reliable forecasts, but scientists need a clearer picture of what’s happening in the sun’s outer atmosphere.
A Reminder to Future Space Lovers
In addition to furthering our scientific knowledge of the sun, the MESOM mission is a novel method for involving and public in the excitement of space exploration. Now all of the mission’s images and data will be released by the team, led by Professor Lucie Green, for everybody to gaze upon at their leisure in amazement as a total solar eclipse unfolds from home comforts.
The MESOM team hopes to inspire new generations of space scientists and engineers with these amazing images and findings from humans widely shared across the world. More, deeper space clips created by the expedition can easily catch on among the populace and ignite a fresh fervor for solar system deep dives. Frankly however, the blend of science with public engagement can be a mighty thing when it comes to cultivating an enthusiasm for the weirder things and reinforcing our commitment to space-based research.
