Study of Hadron-Nucleus and Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions at the CERN SPS: Early Post-LS2 Measurements and Future Plans

NA61/SHINE proposes to continue measurements of hadron and nuclear fragment production properties in reactions induced by hadron and ion beams. The new measurements requested will provide unique data on (i) charm hadron production in Pb+Pb collisions for heavy ion physics, (ii) nuclear fragmentation cross sections for cosmic ray physics and (iii) hadron production in hadron-induced reactions for neutrino physics. The measurements require upgrades of the NA61/SHINE detector that shall increase the data taking rate to about 1 kHz. NA61/SHINE is the only experiment which can conduct the measurements in the near future. In this document the beam request for the early post-LS2 measurements in 2022 is presented. Plans for a continuation of measurements are also discussed.