The Vigil mission is ESA's first operational space-weather mission, planned to be launched in the early 2030s. It will combine remote-sensing and in-situ measurements to enable accurate space-weather predictions from its unique vantage point at the fifth Sun-Earth Lagrange point L5. This location will allow us to observe remotely space-weather events, in particular coronal mass ejections, that propagate along the Sun-Earth line. Remote-sensing observations from L5 will also extend the view of the Sun and the solar sources of space-weather events compared to the view from Earth or spacecraft near Earth. In-situ measurements of the solar-wind plasma and magnetic field at L5 will sample solar-wind conditions that will likely impact Earth about 4.5 days later.
Although the Vigil mission is an operational mission, it will provide major additional opportunities for the scientific study of the Sun and the heliosphere, especially in combination and coordination with other space assets at L1 and throughout the heliosphere. The goal of this RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting is to explore the scientific opportunities from a heliophysics mission at L5 beyond Vigil’s operational requirements. In addition, we will use this meeting to build a science community of UK and international researchers with vested interests in space-weather observations at L5. The operational tools for space-weather missions like Vigil are generally developed and validated in a scientific scenario prior to being operationalised. Therefore, a strong interface between stakeholders in space-weather predictions and the broader heliophysics science community is of particular importance and thus an additional goal of this meeting.
We encourage submissions from across the heliophysics and space-weather communities, including observational, theoretical, numerical, and operational contributions.
Organisers:
Daniel Verscharen
Jonathan Eastwood
Jackie Davies