The US Max '91 program of flare research at the next solar maximum

Abstract

The proposed US program of flare research at the next solar maximum, called Max '91, is described in a booklet available from the author. The scientific objective of Max '91 is to investigate the fundamental unsolved problems of flare physics including the processes of energy storage, release, and transport, and particle acceleration. To address these central scientific issues, the Max '91 observing program will utilize advanced instrumentation on spacecraft, rockets, and balloons, and at ground-based observatories. It will cover the electromagnetic spectrum from radio through optical to X-rays and gamma-rays, and will include measurements of neutrons and charged particles in interplanetary space. Max '91 is designed to make major advances in solar flare physics through observations of high energy flare phenomena and of the magnetic and thermal context in which they take place. This will be achieved using recent advances in instrumentation technology that now make it possible, for the first time, to observe several of the most important processes on their intrinsic spatial, spectral and temporal scales.