The Heliospheric Imager for ESA’s Lagrange L5 Mission

Abstract:

As part of its Space Safety (previously Space Situational Awareness) programme, ESA is developing a space weather monitoring mission to the Lagrange L5 point. Scheduled for launch in 2027, the so-called Lagrange mission is envisaged to operate in coordination with a US-led mission to L1. Alongside a set of in-situ instruments, the Lagrange spacecraft will host a suite of imaging instrumentation including a magnetograph, EUV imager, coronagraph and heliospheric imager. Developed to Phase A/B1 level as part of the RAL Space-led Lagrange remote-sensing package, the instruments are expected to commence Phase B2 study around the time of the AGU Fall Meeting. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the status of the development of the twin-camera Lagrange Heliospheric Imager (HI) instrument, which is based on the highly successful STEREO instruments of the same name. We will discuss its observational requirements alongside its optical, mechanical, thermal, electrical and software design, and operations concept. We will summarize the manufacture, assembly, integration and test plan and schedule required to meet the Lagrange launch date.