NASA Heliophysics Update

NASA formulates and implements a national research program, and fields a coordinated and complementary fleet of spacecraft to understand the Sun and its interactions with Earth, the solar system, and interstellar medium, including space weather. This paper will present an overview of NASA spacecraft addressing solar physics including the soon to be launched NASA Parker Solar Probe and ESA Solar Orbiter missions. These two missions will study the Sun separately and combine their science findings to give us an unprecedented understanding of our star. NASA has received the study report on the future of solar physics published by the Next Generation Solar Physics Mission (NGSPM)’s Science Objectives Team and discussed its recommendations with its international partners. This paper will discuss opportunities for addressing the science objectives outlined within the report given the current outlook for NASA and its interagency and international partners.