Solar wind in all its states Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe, an exploration in progress

Recording of the online conference by Philippe Louarn, research director at CNRS, director of the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP), astrophysicist. January 26, 2021.

Two probes, Solar Orbiter (ESA) and Parker Solar Probe (PSP) have started their long journey to explore the inner areas of the heliosphere and the solar corona. For both, but with different means, it is a question of highlighting, characterizing and quantifying the processes that give rise to the solar wind, accelerate it and determine its astonishing structural and dynamic diversity. . After a few months of operations, the ingredients for a successful space adventure are already being found: the exploration of virgin regions, innovative measures of fundamental processes (turbulence for example), the identification of phenomena and mechanisms suspected but not established, a new approach to a complex system: the heliosphere in this case. Our PAS (Proton Alfa Sensor) instrument on Solar Orbiter, developed at IRAP, will naturally receive preferential treatment!