06/20/2013 12:00 AM EDT
The
fully integrated spacecraft and science instrument for NASA's Interface
Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission is seen in a clean room at
the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Sunnyvale, Calif. facility.
The solar
arrays are deployed in the configuration they will assume when in orbit.
IRIS is scheduled to launch on June 26, 2013. Understanding the
interface between the photosphere and corona remains a fundamental
challenge in solar and heliospheric science.
The IRIS mission opens a
window of discovery into this crucial region by tracing the flow of
energy and plasma through the chromosphere and transition region into
the corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS is designed to provide
significant new information to increase our understanding of energy
transport into the corona and solar wind and provide an archetype for
all stellar atmospheres.
The unique instrument capabilities, coupled
with state of the art 3-D modeling, will fill a large gap in our
knowledge of this dynamic region of the solar atmosphere. The mission
will extend the scientific output of existing heliophysics spacecraft
that follow the effects of energy release processes from the sun to
Earth.
Image Credit: NASA/Lockheed Martin
