SH048-0012
Updates on the Fundamentals of Impulsive Energy Release in the Corona Explorer (FIERCE) mission concept

Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Poster
Albert Y Shih1, Lindsay Glesener2, Sam Krucker3,4, Silvina E Guidoni1, Steven Christe1, Katharine Reeves5, Szymon Gburek6, Amir Caspi7, Meriem Alaoui8, Joel C Allred1, Marina Battaglia4, Wayne Baumgartner9, Brian R Dennis1, James Frederick Drake10, Keith Goetz11, Leon Golub5, Iain G Hannah12, Laura Hayes13, Gordon Holman1, Andrew Inglis8, Jack Ireland1, Graham Stewart Kerr8, James A Klimchuk1, David E. McKenzie9, Christopher Samuel Moore5, Sophie Musset14, Jeffrey W Reep15, Daniel Ryan1, Pascal Saint-Hilaire3, Sabrina L Savage9, Richard Schwartz1, Daniel B Seaton16, Marek Steslicki6, Thomas N Woods17 and The FIERCE Team, (1)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (2)University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States, (3)UC Berkeley, Space Science Lab, Berkeley, CA, United States, (4)University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Windisch, Switzerland, (5)Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, United States, (6)Space Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław, Poland, (7)Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, United States, (8)Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, United States, (9)NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, United States, (10)University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, United States, (11)University of Minnesota, School of Physics and Astronomy, Minneapolis, MN, United States, (12)University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom, (13)NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (14)University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12, United Kingdom, (15)Naval Research Lab DC, Washington, DC, United States, (16)UC Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (17)University of Colorado Boulder, LASP, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
The Fundamentals of Impulsive Energy Release in the Corona Explorer (FIERCE) Medium-Class Explorer (MIDEX) mission concept addresses the following science questions:

  • What are the physical origins of space-weather events?
  • How are particles accelerated at the Sun?
  • How is impulsively released energy transported throughout the solar atmosphere?
  • How is the solar corona heated?

FIERCE achieves its science objectives through co-optimized X-ray and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) observations by the following instruments:

  • FOXSI, a focusing hard X-ray spectroscopic imager that is able to capture the full range of emission in flares and CMEs (e.g., faint coronal sources near bright chromospheric sources)
  • THADIS, a high-resolution, fast-cadence EUV imager that will not saturate for even intense flares to follow dynamic changes in the configuration of plasma structures
  • STC, a soft X-ray spectrometer that provides detailed thermal and elemental composition diagnostics

If selected, FIERCE will launch in 2025, near the peak of the next solar cycle, which is also well timed with perihelia of Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter. We describe the status and latest updates of the mission concept since it was proposed to NASA last year. We also highlight the anticipated science return from co-observations with other observatories/instruments such as the Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA) or the STIX instrument on Solar Orbiter.

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