Authors: Kiyoshi Ichimoto and the Solar-B Team
Affiliation: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
The SOLAR-B mission is the third JAXA/NAO spacecraft dedicated to solar physics
which will be launched in summer of 2006. The mission consists of a coordinated
set of optical, EUV and X-ray instruments that will apply a systems approach
to the interaction between the Sun's magnetic field and its high temperature,
ionized atmosphere. The Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) consists of a 50cm aperture
diffraction limited Gregorian telescope and a focal plane package, and provides
the quantitative measurements of the full vector magnetic field of the photosphere
with a spatial resolution of 0.2-0.3 arcsec. The X-ray telescope (XRT) images
the high temperature (0.5 to 10 MK) corona with improved angular resolution
of approximately 1 arcsec. The Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS)
aims to determine velocity fields and other plasma parameters in the corona
and transition region. The SOLAR-B telescopes, as a whole, will enable us to
explore the origins of the outer solar atmosphere, the corona, and the coupling
between the fine magnetic structure at the photosphere and the dynamic processes
occurring in the corona. The mission instruments (SOT/EIS/XRT) are joint effort
of Japan (JAXA/NAO), the United States (NASA), and the United Kingdom (PPARC).
The overview of the spacecraft and some details of each instrument will be presented.