Multi-slit Solar Explorer

The mission is led by Dr. Bart De Pontieu at the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Lab (LMSAL) in Palo Alto, California.

With this, MUSE is aiming to address the following three main long standing science goals: MUSE will provide simultaneous spectroscopy and imaging of the solar corona at very high spatial resolution of 0.5 arcseconds or better (resolving structures as small as 350 km on the Sun) while increasing the areal coverage and cadence by a factor of 30 to 100 compared to previous or planned spectrographs.

MUSE will enable detailed studies of the multi-scale coupling of physical processes in the solar atmosphere, in which energy is often released on very small spatial scales of order a few 100 km or less, but rapidly impacts hundreds of thousands of km, e.g., when magnetic fields become unstable and lead to large explosions (flares) or eruptions (coronal mass ejections, CMEs).

When such events propagate from the Sun into the solar system, they lead to space weather, and often impact space-based and ground-based technological resources on Earth such as satellites, communications, power grids, etc.

MUSE will be managed from within Principal Investigator (PI) Dr. Bart De Pontieu’s home organization, the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), which is part of LM Advanced Technology Center (ATC).

[12] Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) has responsibility for the development of the Context Imager (CI) telescope and will be providing the Spectrograph (SG) front aperture and tube assembly.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) provides SG design support and optical ground-support equipment.