  The concept of the Solar Ring mission was gradually formed from L5/L4 mission
concept, and the proposal of its pre-phase study was funded by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China in November 2018 and then by the Strategic
Priority Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences in space sciences in May 2019.
Solar Ring mission will be the first attempt to routinely monitor and study the
Sun and inner heliosphere from a full 360-degree perspective in the ecliptic
plane. The current preliminary design of the Solar Ring mission is to deploy
six spacecraft, grouped in three pairs, on a sub-AU orbit around the Sun. The
two spacecraft in each group are separated by about 30 degrees and every two
groups by about 120 degrees. This configuration with necessary science payloads
will allow us to establish three unprecedented capabilities: (1) determine the
photospheric vector magnetic field with unambiguity, (2) provide 360-degree
maps of the Sun and the inner heliosphere routinely, and (3) resolve the solar
wind structures at multiple scales and multiple longitudes. With these
capabilities, the Solar Ring mission aims to address the origin of solar cycle,
the origin of solar eruptions, the origin of solar wind structures and the
origin of severe space weather events. The successful accomplishment of the
mission will advance our understanding of the star and the space environment
that hold our life and enhance our capability of expanding the next new
territory of human.
