KuaFu-B: Exploring geospace as a complex coupled system

It has become apparent that many of the physical processes that are of interest in geospace will only be understood if we come to terms with the concept of geospace as a “complex coupled system”. In this paradigm, the interaction between the different components of geospace is at least as important as the individual elements themselves. This is true in the substorm, for example, where global processes drive topological changes that then support small-scale processes that in turn have a rapid and significant impact on the global system. The core objective of the KuaFu project is to study the interaction between the Sun and geospace. KuaFu will consist of three satellites. One will be stationed at L1, providing remote sensing of the Sun and in situ measurements of the solar wind. The other two (KuaFu-B1 and -B2 or “KuaFu-B”) will be in elliptical polar orbits and will together provide the first-ever 24/7 imaging global imaging of the northern hemispheric aurora and ring current, as well as possibly the only high altitude polar in situ geospace observations during the planned mission timeframe. In this talk, we focus particularly on the KuaFu-B imaging program which is designed to provide long sequences of state-of-the-art images of the electron and proton aurora in the northern hemisphere, the ring current, and shorter sequences of conjugate electron aurora in the southern hemisphere. The KuaFu-B imaging program has been designed to attack problems related to the system-level response of geospace to the solar driver, with a focus on interrelated phenomena of storms, substorms, reconnection and the convection cycle, and natural complexity.