Telemachus: a mission for a polar view of solar activity Original Research Article

Telemachus is a polar solar-heliospheric mission described in the current NASA Sun–Earth Connections Roadmap (2003–2028). To continue the quest begun by Ulysses, Telemachus will be injected into a 0.2 AU × 2.5 AU solar polar orbit after gravitational encounters with Venus, Earth (twice) and Jupiter, followed by a maneuver at first perihelion. With an orbital period of 1.5 years, it will pass over the solar poles at a radial distance of 0.37 AU. The behavior of solar polar flows (heretofore unobservable) will provide critical boundary conditions on the transport of solar magnetic fields. Manifestations of the global flows and fields are the solar dynamo, formation of active regions, emission of the solar wind and the heliospheric magnetic field, launching of coronal mass ejections, eruption of solar flares, acceleration of solar energetic particles, and ultimately the dynamics of the entire heliosphere.