Heliophysics mission concepts CINEMA and CMEx progress in NASA review

NASA reported new steps for two heliophysics mission concepts, and these steps define how each project is progressing in the current review cycle.

CINEMA advances to Phase B for flight design work, while CMEx continues in an extended Phase A study.

These decisions answer how the mission concepts are moving forward in the agency process: CINEMA proceeds toward detailed planning for potential flight, and CMEx receives additional development time for assessment.

Information in this report is based on statements from NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and the Heliophysics Division.

CINEMA advances to Phase B as CMEx enters extended Phase A review

CINEMA moves into Phase B

NASA stated that the Science Mission Directorate Science Management Council selected CINEMA, the Cross-scale Investigation of Earth’s Magnetotail and Aurora mission concept, to enter Phase B.

Phase B covers planning and design for flight systems and mission operations. The principal investigator is Robyn Millan of Dartmouth College.

NASA described CINEMA as a mission concept that would examine how plasma energy moves into Earth’s magnetosphere.

The agency said this convection process can shift between steady and rapid conditions and can drive fast plasma flows, electrical current systems, and auroral activity.

Joe Westlake, director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division, said the mission will support research on magnetic convection in Earth’s magnetosphere.

Westlake noted that multiple spacecraft measurements represent an ongoing strategy in heliophysics research for understanding impacts on technology and operational systems across the solar system.

NASA reported that CINEMA’s concept uses a constellation of nine small satellites in polar low Earth orbit. Each spacecraft would carry an energetic particle detector, an auroral imager, and a magnetometer.

NASA explained that the mission aims to relate particle observations with auroral imaging and magnetic field data, linking magnetospheric activity with processes observed in the ionosphere.

The agency assigned approximately $28 million for Phase B activities. NASA reported that the mission cost, excluding launch, will not exceed $182.8 million.

Phase B work will run for ten months, and if the mission is later confirmed, launch would occur no earlier than 2030.

CMEx receives extended Phase A study

NASA also selected the Chromospheric Magnetism Explorer mission concept for an extended Phase A study.

NASA stated that this extension provides additional time to refine the mission design for possible later consideration.

The principal investigator is Holly Gilbert of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. The agency allocated $2 million for this twelve-month extended Phase A.

NASA described CMEx as a single-spacecraft concept that would use ultraviolet spectropolarimetric instrumentation previously demonstrated on the CLASP sub-orbital sounding rocket flight.

According to NASA, this approach would allow the mission to study lower layers of the solar chromosphere, examine sources of solar eruptions, and investigate magnetic origins of the solar wind.

Program background and heliophysics context

NASA noted that both CINEMA and CMEx completed one year of early concept studies under the 2022 Heliophysics Explorers Program Small-class Explorer Announcement of Opportunity.

Asal Naseri, acting associate flight director for heliophysics, stated that mission concepts of this type could support efforts to increase capability for forecasting solar events and reducing risks to satellites and to astronauts operating in Earth-Moon-Mars space.

NASA described the Heliophysics Division as an organization that studies the Sun and its influence on space, Earth, and other planets.

The agency stated that this work includes observing solar wind, magnetic fields, and energy flow through the heliosphere using various spacecraft distributed across the solar system.