International Coordination and Support for SmallSat‐Enabled Space Weather Activities

Nieves‐Chinchilla, Teresa; Lal, Bhavya; Robinson, R. M.; Caspi, Amir; Jackson, D. R.; Moretto, T.; Spann, James F.

doi:10.1029/2020sw002568

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Funding agencies such as NASA and ESA are beginning to recognize the utility and potential of SmallSats for space weather research; operational agencies such as NOAA also stand to benefit (for example, NOAA has considered SmallSats in its Satellite Observing System Architecture Study; https://www.space.commerce.gov/ business-with-noaa/future-noaa-satellite-architecture/). Continued investment in development and maturation of enabling technologies and processes-such as high-speed communications, miniaturization, and multi-unit builds-by all relevant agencies is strongly recommended, as is development of international plans to ease collaboration and coordination of space weather research and operations (Nieves-Chinchilla et al, 2020;Verkhoglyadova et al, 2021). In the near term, targeted space weather operational needs (monitoring and forecasting of specific space weather phenomena) could be partially met by leveraging science-oriented missions such as the ones described above.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small Satellite Mission Concepts for Space Weather Research and as Pathfinders for Operations

et al. 2022

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Solar activity drives rapid variations in the radiation and plasma environment in interplanetary and geospace. These variations occur on timescales of minutes and hours, associated with solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), to a few days, as complex magnetic features on the Sun, such as active regions and coronal holes, rotate across the solar disk. These phenomena result in orders-of-magnitude increases in the fluxes of high-energy (extreme ultraviolet [EUV], and especially X-ray and gamma ray) photons and energetic, often relativistic particles (electrons, protons, alphas, and heavier ions) streaming through interplanetary space. These enhanced photon and particle fluxes pose direct risks to humans and electronics in space. The increased radiation and associated propagating disturbances in the interplanetary magnetic field (e.g., from CMEs or so-called "co-rotating

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small Satellite Mission Concepts for Space Weather Research and as Pathfinders for Operations

et al. 2022

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“…In the magnetospheric community, there has been an effort to design new missions that probe the magnetosphere in situ with multiple spacecraft, such as the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. Likewise, future improvements in CME research may require missions designed to probe CMEs and other inner heliospheric structures using a fleet of many small spacecraft [Gibson et al 2018;Nieves-Chinchilla et al 2020a;Caspi et al 2022]. A constellation of spacecraft that collectively monitor the Sun-Earth line significantly inside 1 AU is the most obvious path forward to realize a B z forecasting ability at Earth that is actually useful for practical space weather forecasting.…”

Section: Field Measurements In the Coronamentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensing CME Magnetic Fields En Route to 1 AU

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Palmerio

et al. 2023

Bulletin of the AAS

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This white paper is driven by the supposition that significantly improving our understanding of CME internal field structure and how it evolves in the inner heliosphere requires developing the capability to measure and map CME fields in transit to 1 AU. From a space weather forecasting perspective, such capabilities are crucial for developing the capacity to forecast B z at Earth, which is recognized as the most relevant CME parameter for geoeffectiveness, but is one that is currently impossible to forecast. We here discuss potential new field diagnostics to explore, from the low and middle corona where CMEs are birthed, to the interplanetary medium where the fields can be observed by magnetometers on spacecraft, or by radio Faraday rotation observations from current ground-based facilities or hypothetical future space missions.

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“…Alternatively, some recent SmallSats have made use of real-time satellite-to-satellite communications (e.g., GlobalStar, Iridium) to enable real-time downlink separately from GS visibility, albeit at relatively low data rates. T. Nieves-Chinchilla et al (2020) discuss relevant issues that must be considered for international coordination, for example, for frequency licensing and/or deployment and use of widespread GS networks.…”

Section: The Role Of Ground Support In Tracking Optimization For Smalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing Gaps in Space Weather Operations and Understanding With Small Satellites

et al. 2021

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The updated National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan formulates its Objective II as the task to develop and disseminate accurate and timely space weather characterization and forecasts, including regional and global characterization of space weather conditions (NSTC, 2019). Meeting the Objective requires space weather monitoring from ground and space (Knipp & Gannon, 2019). Due to continuing improvements in small satellite (SmallSat) technologies, SmallSat missions are gaining more interest as solutions to address long-standing scientific problems and operational needs (Moretto & Robinson, 2008; NASEM, 2016). The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) produces (http://www.wmo-sat.info/oscar/applicationareas/view/25) for observations of physical variables in support of all WMO Programs, including space weather. The requirements are rolling and are regularly reviewed by the WMO InterProgram Team on Space Weather Information, Systems and Services (IPT-SWeISS), whose members are experts typically representing national operational space weather centers. The requirements emphasize near-real time space weather operations. IPT-SWeISS assessments indicate that the WMO requirements are often poorly met by the existing observation network and gaps could be very effectively filled by observations from a SmallSat constellation. The WMO requirements are a means by which improvements to space weather observations can be advocated, which requires good communication between forecasters, instrument developers, and researchers. However, much more work needs to be done to publicize the WMO requirements list, especially in the SmallSat community. By using the requirements as a focus for SmallSat design, we can work together more effectively to fill the gaps in the observational network, and to enable SmallSat observations to be increasingly useful for research and operational applications. The First International Workshop on SmallSats for Space Weather Research and Forecasting (SSWRF), held in Washington, DC on 2017 August 1-4, brought together experts in heliophysics, space physics, space weather operations, and related fields to help identify how SmallSats could fill current gaps in space weather understanding and forecasting. Those findings are discussed here. 2. Current Gaps and Recommendations SmallSats have a potential to enable cutting-edge heliophysics science (NASEM, 2016). A number of successful missions have already demonstrated such capability (Spence et al., 2020, unpublished data), and many future missions have been funded or proposed, including a number with direct relevance to space

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International Coordination and Support for SmallSat‐Enabled Space Weather Activities

Cited by 5 publications

References 15 publications

Small Satellite Mission Concepts for Space Weather Research and as Pathfinders for Operations

Small Satellite Mission Concepts for Space Weather Research and as Pathfinders for Operations

Sensing CME Magnetic Fields En Route to 1 AU

Addressing Gaps in Space Weather Operations and Understanding With Small Satellites

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