THOR selected as candidate for ESA's next mission

A next generation spacecraft to study plasma heating in the universe

THOR, the Turbulence Heating ObserveR, is a mission proposal in response to ESA M4 call to address one of the most fundamental but also one of the least understood physical processes in the universe: turbulent energy dissipation and particle energization.

THOR uses, among other things, the HVM (hybrid Vlasov-Maxwell) code, this fully parallelized code for over 10 years runs on the Fermi supercomputer @ CINECA.

About the results of ESA M4 call:

Exoplanets, plasma physics and the X-ray Universe are the topics chosen by ESA to be considered for the fourth medium-class mission in its Cosmic Vision science programme, for launch in 2025.

Following the recommendation by a peer review committee, Alvaro Giménez, Director of Science and Robotic Exploration, decided that three candidate concepts submitted to its ‘M4’ mission call will be studied further: the Atmospheric Remote-Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey (Ariel), the Turbulence Heating ObserveR (Thor) and the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (Xipe).

“The selection of these three exciting mission concepts for study is an important step in the continuation of ESA’s long-term presence in space,” says Professor Giménez. 

The three mission concepts were chosen from 27 proposals that were submitted in response to the mission call made by ESA to the scientific community last year.

After a study period aimed at making a detailed technical and scientific definition of the three concepts, one mission will be selected to fill the fourth medium-class (M4) opportunity in ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 Plan, for launch in 2025.