ESA SP-417, 35-41
In the opinion of this author, future European solar space missions have to place heavy emphasis on the "Sun as a Star" topic, i.e. the mission goals should concentrate on astrophysically relevant questions. With respect to recent achievements in solar wind particle in:w vestigations with SOHO and other recent missions, significant progress has been made in our knowledge about the isotopic composition of the solar wind and constraints on the degree of isotopic fractionation between matter from the outer convective zone and in the interplanetary medium. The analysis of kinetic properties of minor species with enhanced time resolution has revealed new details of the interplanetary solar wind stream-stream interaction and the acceleration process of heavy ions, and it allows the determination of in-ecliptic coronal conditions (e.g. maximum temperature, temperature gradient, and freeze-in density) for an uninterrupted time series of 8 months. The conclusions contain a personal view of some future goals of space-based solar research.