CLASP is a new instrument. CLASP has significant heritage from past experiments: Optical layout is partly based on Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Instrument (SUMI), 36.213 Porter/Davis & 36.284 Cirtain. Electronics & electrical interface based on SUMI & High Resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C), 36.272/Cirtain.

The Science goals of CLASP are:
Detection of atomic polarization of the Lyman-alpha line from the solar chromosphere.
Detection of the Hanle effect polarization.

The aim of CLASP is to achieve the first measurement of magnetic field in the upper chromosphere and transition region of the Sun through the detection and measurement of Hanle effect polarization of the Lyman alpha line. The Hanle effect (i.e. the magnetic field induced modification of the linear polarization due to scattering processes in spectral lines) is believed to be a powerful tool for measuring the magnetic field in the upper chromosphere, as it is more sensitive to weaker magnetic fields than the Zeeman effect, and also sensitive to magnetic fields tangled at spatial scales too small to be resolved. The Lyman-alpha (121.567 nm) line has been chosen because it is a chromospheric/transition-region line, and because the Hanle effect polarization of the Lyman-alpha line is predicted to be sensitive to 10-250 Gauss, encompassing the range of interest.* The Principal Investigator is Dr. Winebarger/University of Alabama.

*http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011AGUFM.P14C..05K

For an overview of solar sounding rocket instruments developed jointly by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, see: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20140011665.pdf.