NASA
NASA/GSFC/SED/HSD/SPL/RHESSI
Primary Mission Objective: Explore the basic physics of particle acceleration and energy release in solar flares Science Objectives Solar: bullet Determine the frequency, location, and evolution of impulsive energy release in the corona bullet Study the acceleration of electrons, protons, and heavier ions in flares bullet Study the heating of plasma to tens of millions of degrees and determine its relationship to particle acceleration bullet Study the propagation and evolution of energetic particles in flares bullet Determine the relative abundances of accelerated and ambient ions in flares Non-Solar: bullet Obtain images and spectra of the Crab Nebula with 2 arcsecond spatial resolution and ~1 keV spectral resolution bullet Detect and obtain high resolution spectra of gamma-ray bursts and cosmic and terrestrial transient sources over a large fraction of the sky bullet Search for cyclotron line features in gamma-ray bursts and cosmic transient sources bullet Obtain high resolution spectra and search for line features in steady X-ray and gamma-ray sources Summary provided by http://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/hessi/index.html