FURST

Mission Overview

FURST (Full-sun Ultraviolet Rocket SpecTrometer) is an experimental sounding rocket instrument that will provide a solar-stellar "missing link", to enable unique insights into the heating of the Sun's chromosphere and corona, with more general implications for understanding signatures of magnetic reconnection and other magnetic processes in the Universe.

We will deliver a fully calibrated UV spectrum to the community at the earliest opportunity, to enable collaborations across heliophysics, astrophysics and aeronomy of planetary and exoplanetary atmospheres. Our initial science interest is to understand better the processes of chromospheric and coronal heating, by focusing upon sometimes subtle, yet significant differences in high quality ultraviolet spectra of the Sun and the stars.

Status

FURST is slated to launch from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in mid 2024. The SSEL team and students are hard at work finalizing assembly of flight hardware and calibration of the instrument.