SWA

Note that all data volumes & rates are based on powers of 10, i.e. 1Gbit = 10⁹ bits. HK and LL are included in normal mode.

TM Figures

Allocated TM	14.5 kbits/s
Download capacity per orbit (168 Days)	26.309 GB	= 210.470Gbits
SSMM allocation

Operational Modes

Sources: SWA Budget Report Issue 1 (scaled to reach 14500 not 14848), SWA input to SAP Planning

Mode	Data Rate (bps)	Duty Cycle (%)	Duty Cycle (hrs / orbit)	Orbital Volume (Gbits)
SWA Normal Mode	11551	99.653	4018	167.083
SWA Burst Mode (Scheduled)	413350	0.347 (min)	14	20.833
SWA Triggered Mode	447504	0.347 (max)	14	22.554

SWA's Book Keeping Algorithm trades off triggered burst modes against scheduled burst modes and it isn't entirely clear from available documentation what the native data rates of these burst modes are, only what proportion of the SWA TM budget is available after normal mode, LL and HK are accounted for. Discussions with C. Owen and ISWG imply that EAS can burst for 12 minutes per day total in scheduled burst mode, and that one triggered burst mode (dump of 5 minute rolling buffer) is equivalent to 7 minutes of scheduled burst mode. For simplicity's sake we assume the same is true for PAS (which has many different burst mode options in any case so this could probably reflect some form of reality). HIS does not respond to triggers.

For the purposes of calculating rates and duty cycles, then, we assume the following:

Scheduled burst mode involves EAS, HIS and PAS.
Scheduled burst mode replaces normal mode.
EAS and PAS respond to triggers; HIS does not.
Rate calculations are based on 5 minutes scheduled burst mode per day and 1 trigger response per day. A trigger produces 7/12 of the daily burst mode volume for EAS and PAS. Thus scheduled bursts produce 5/12 of the available daily burst mode volume for EAS and PAS and 100% of the available burst mode volume for HIS.

Objectives for SWA

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1.1.1.1 Low FIP fast wind origins (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.1.2.1 Does slow wind originate from the over-expanded edges of coronal holes? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.1.2.2 Does slow and intermediate solar wind originate from coronal loops outside of coronal holes? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.1.2.6 Disentangle the spatial and temporal variability of the slow wind (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.1.2.7 Trace streamer blobs and other structures through the outer corona and the heliosphere. (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.1.2.8 Determine the velocity, acceleration profile and the mass of the transient slow wind flows (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.1.3.2.1 How does the Sun's magnetic field change over time? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.1.3.2.2 How is the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) related to coronal structure? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.1.3.3 What is the distribution of the open magnetic flux? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.1.4.1.3 Identify reconnection exhausts in the solar wind (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.1.4.1.5 Identify and characterise the solar wind reconnection physics in current sheets with thickness down to the ion scales and smaller (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.2.1.2 Energy and mass flux in the corona. (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.2.1.9 Multi-temperature diagnostics of flaring coronal loops (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.2.2.1 Determine where energy is deposited in the solar wind (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.2.2.2 What drives the evolution of the solar wind distribution functions in situ? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.2.2.3 What is the nature and origin of waves, turbulence and small-scale structures? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.2.2.4 Solar wind reconnection physics (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.2.2.6 Study fast plasma flows from the edges of solar active regions discovered with Hinode/EIS (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.3.1 Solar and local origin of Alfvénic fluctuations (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.3.2 How is turbulent energy dissipated and how does turbulence evolve within the heliosphere? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.3.3 Plasma turbulence variability (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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1.3.4 Plasma turbulence anisotropy (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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2.1.1.2 CME structure (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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2.1.1.3 CME evolution (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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2.2.1 How do CMEs contribute to the global evolution of magnetic flux in the heliosphere? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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2.2.2 What is the role of ICMEs in the Sun’s magnetic cycle? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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2.3.2.1 Understand coronal conditions under which the shocks form and determine the interplanetary conditions where they evolve (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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2.3.2.2 Identify interplanetary shocks and characterise their spatial and temporal evolution (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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2.3.2.3 Study heating and dissipation mechanisms at shocks with radial distance (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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2.3.2.4 Identify mechanisms that heat the thermal solar wind particle populations near shocks and determine their energy partition (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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2.3.3 Resolve the interplanetary shock field and plasma structure down to the spatial and temporal scales comparable and smaller than the typical ion scales. (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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2.3.4 Shock-surfing acceleration mechanism (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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2.3.5 Understand the radio emissions from the ICME driven shocks (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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2.3.6 Identify shock accelerated particles (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.1.1 Where and when are shocks most efficient in accelerating particles? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.1.2.2 Composition variations (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.1.2.3 Warped shock fronts (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.1.2.4 Turbulence and inhomogeneities (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.1.3 How are superhalo particles accelerated continuously in the corona and solar wind? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.1.4 How can SEPs be accelerated to high energies so rapidly? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.1.5 Do proton-amplified Alfvén waves play a role in accelerating particles at shocks? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.1.6 What causes SEPs' spectral breaks? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.1.7 Are there favourable environments for particle acceleration? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.2.3 Flare seed particles (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.2.4 Explore the fact that only some of the hard X-ray peaks are related to escaping electrons, while others are not (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.2.5 X-ray prompt events (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.2.6 Delayed events (between X-ray peak and electron release time) (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.2.8 Explore the type III radio bursts delays (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.3.1 How shocks can accelerate electrons to relativistic energies (never observed for shocks near 1 AU)? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.1.4.2 X-ray emission from electrons accelerated at CME shocks (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.2.1.1 Map the power spectrum of the turbulent magnetic field as a function of heliocentric distance in order to provide ground-truth for transport models (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.2.3 Properties and distribution of near-Sun shocks, their fluctuations and particle acceleration (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.2.4 How do large and small-scale structures modulate particle fluxes? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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3.3 What are the seed populations for energetic particles? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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5.10.1 What is the temporal variability of 3D thermal particle distributions? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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5.10.2 How are proton and helium temperatures related to their relative drift, is there any evidence for resonant heating? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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5.10.3 How common are proton beams, where do they come from and what impact do they have on ambient conditions (wave generation, heating)? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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5.10.4 Identify and characterise the various forms of free energy in the particle distribution functions (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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5.10.5 Fully characterise the radial and latitudinal variability of 3D thermal particle distributions under different solar wind conditions (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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5.10.6 Electron halo population (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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5.10.7 How do the combined electron strahl and composition signatures vary across reconnecting solar wind current sheets? (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)
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5.4.2.1 Understand cometary properties and evolution by mapping the hydrogen Ly-α emission, proportional to the outgassing rate, along its trajectory close to the Sun (Solar Orbiter SOC Public)

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SWA

TM Figures

Operational Modes

Objectives for SWA