J. C. Vial, Mr. - Dr.
I.A.S.
http://www.ias.u-psud.fr/medoc/
       
       
Session 6 - Poster

SMESE : a SMall Explorer for the Study of Solar Eruptions and Prominences

J.-C. Vial (1), F. Auchère (1), J. Chang (2), C. Fang (3), W.Q. Gan (2), L.-K. Klein (4), G. Molodij (4), J.-Y. Prado (5), G. Trottet (4), C. Wang (6), Y.H. Yan (7)
       

The SMESE (SMall Explorer for the study of Solar Eruptions) mission is a microsatellite proposed by France and China. The payload of SMESE consists of three packages:

LYOT (a suite of Lyman a imager and coronagraph),
DESIR (an Infra-Red Telescope working at 35 and 150 m), and
HEBS (a High Energy Burst Spectrometer working in X- and g-rays).

The status of research on chromospheric manifestations of flares, quiescent and erupting prominences will be briefly recalled in the context of on-going missions. We describe the scientific objectives with some emphasis on the above-mentioned fields along with the profile of the mission. With a launch around 2011, SMESE will provide a unique tool for studying filaments and prominences, detecting and understanding flares and eruptions in the maximum phase of solar activity.