The Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe Plus (WISPR)

• Published in: Space science reviews Vol. 204; no. 1-4; pp. 83 - 130
• Main Authors: Vourlidas, Angelos, Howard, Russell A., Plunkett, Simon P., Korendyke, Clarence M., Thernisien, Arnaud F. R., Wang, Dennis, Rich, Nathan, Carter, Michael T., Chua, Damien H., Socker, Dennis G., Linton, Mark G., Morrill, Jeff S., Lynch, Sean, Thurn, Adam, Van Duyne, Peter, Hagood, Robert, Clifford, Greg, Grey, Phares J., Velli, Marco, Liewer, Paulett C., Hall, Jeffrey R., DeJong, Eric M., Mikic, Zoran, Rochus, Pierre, Mazy, Emanuel, Bothmer, Volker, Rodmann, Jens
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.12.2016; Springer Nature B.V; Kluwer Academic Publishers
• Subjects: Aerospace Technology and Astronautics; Astrophysics and Astroparticles; Aérospatiale, astronomie & astrophysique; Corona; Coronas; Dust; Earth orbits; Emissions; Field of view; Imaging; Missions; Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Physique, chimie, mathématiques & sciences de la terre; Planetology; Risk reduction; Scientific imaging; Solar probes; Space exploration; Space Exploration and Astronautics; Space science, astronomy & astrophysics; Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics; Spacecraft; Sun; Solar corona; Heliospheric imager; Solar wind; Thomson scattering; Imaging; Solar probe plus
• ISSN: 0038-6308; 1572-9672; 1572-9672
• DOI: 10.1007/s11214-014-0114-y

The Wide-field Imager for Solar PRobe Plus (WISPR) is the sole imager aboard the Solar Probe Plus (SPP) mission scheduled for launch in 2018. SPP will be a unique mission designed to orbit as close as 7 million km (9.86 solar radii) from Sun center. WISPR employs a 95 ∘ radial by 58 ∘ transverse field of view to image the fine-scale structure of the solar corona, derive the 3D structure of the large-scale corona, and determine whether a dust-free zone exists near the Sun. WISPR is the smallest heliospheric imager to date yet it comprises two nested wide-field telescopes with large-format (2 K × 2 K) APS CMOS detectors to optimize the performance for their respective fields of view and to minimize the risk of dust damage, which may be considerable close to the Sun. The WISPR electronics are very flexible allowing the collection of individual images at cadences up to 1 second at perihelion or the summing of multiple images to increase the signal-to-noise when the spacecraft is further from the Sun. The dependency of the Thomson scattering emission of the corona on the imaging geometry dictates that WISPR will be very sensitive to the emission from plasma close to the spacecraft in contrast to the situation for imaging from Earth orbit. WISPR will be the first ‘local’ imager providing a crucial link between the large-scale corona and the in-situ measurements.