Solar and Space Physics Decadal Survey

Agencies such as NASA utilize the decadal survey in order to prioritize funding for specific missions or scientific research projects.

The top priorities recommended to NASA were the restoration of the Medium-Class Explorers program, continuation of the Living With a Star and Solar Terrestrial Probes programs, and continued development of the Solar Probe Plus mission and the Geospace Dynamics Constellation as part of LWaS.

[9] The committee was chaired by Stephen A. Fuselier of the Southwest Research Institute and Robyn Millan of Dartmouth College.

Rather than articulate specific goals, the document was intended to cover a wider, more diverse array of science and space weather research based around six interconnected themes similar to the previous Decadal Survey.

The new Survey recommended that NOAA establish a new ground-based space weather research office, that the NSF increase workforce support initiatives and investment in research infrastructure including CubeSats, and that NASA fund two new flagship missions, the Links constellation to study Earth's magnetosphere from more than two dozen positions, and the Solar Polar Orbiter mission to fully succeed Ulysses and the Parker Solar Probe, in addition to continuing the Geospace Dynamics Constellation's development.