HELIO: The Heliophysics Integrated Observatory R.D. Bentley a, * , A. Csillaghy b , J. Aboudarham c , C. Jacquey d , M.A. Hapgood e , K. Bocchialini f , M. Messerotti g , J. Brooke h , P. Gallagher i , P. Fox j , N. Hurlburt k , D.A. Roberts l , L. Sanchez Duarte m a University College London, MSSL, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking RH5 6NT, UK b Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, 5 Steinackerstrasse, 5210 Windisch, Switzerland c Observatory of Paris, LESIA, 5 Place Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France d Univ. Paul Sabatier, CESR, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France e STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Space Sci. Dept., Didcot OX11 0QX, UK f Universite Paris-Sud, IAS, 15 Rue Georges Clmenceau, 91405 Orsay, France g INAF Observatory of Trieste, 302 Loc. Basovizza, 34149 Trieste, Italy h Univ. Manchester, Computer Science, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK i Trinity College Dublin, School of Physics, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland j Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA k Lockheed Martin ATC, 3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA l NASA-GSFC, HSD, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt MD 20771, USA m ESA-ESAC, P.O. Box 78, Villanueva de la Caada, 28691 Madrid, Spain Received 31 March 2009; received in revised form 5 February 2010; accepted 8 February 2010 Available online 12 February 2010 Abstract Heliophysics is a new research field that explores the Sun–Solar System Connection; it requires the joint exploitation of solar, helio- spheric, magnetospheric and ionospheric observations. HELIO, the Heliophysics Integrated Observatory, will facilitate this study by creating an integrated e-Infrastructure that has no equivalent anywhere else. It will be a key component of a worldwide effort to integrate heliophysics data and will coordinate closely with international organizations to exploit synergies with complementary domains. HELIO was proposed under a Research Infrastructure call in the Capacities Programme of the European Commission’s 7th Frame- work Programme (FP7). The project was selected for negotiation in January 2009; following a successful conclusion to these, the project started on 1 June 2009 and will last for 36 months. Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of COSPAR. Keywords: Heliophysics; HELIO; Virtual observatory; Sun; Solar system; Heliosphere; Magnetosphere; Ionosphere; Services; Semantics; Ontology; Workflow; Metadata; Data access; Distributed data systems; Interoperability; Interdisciplinary 1. Introduction Heliophysics is the study of the effects of the Sun on the Solar System and it addresses problems that span a number of existing disciplines – solar and heliospheric physics, and magnetospheric and ionospheric physics. The discipline is closely related to the study of space weather and the phe- nomena that affect it, but heliophysics is more generalized covering all parts of the Solar System rather that just the Sun–Earth connection. The Heliophysics Integrated Observatory (HELIO) will provide the most comprehensive integrated information system in this domain. HELIO will deploy a distributed network of services that will address the needs of a broad 0273-1177/$36.00 Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of COSPAR. doi:10.1016/j.asr.2010.02.006 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: rdb@mssl.ucl.ac.uk (R.D. Bentley). www.elsevier.com/locate/asr Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Advances in Space Research 47 (2011) 2235–2239