HUNTSVILLE — Space weather and its effects can damage and even destroy spacecraft and satellites. To help counter this threat, NASA has awarded CFD Research a contract to further develop a space weather forecasting toolset.
“Space weather phenomena such as solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and associated solar particle events can damage critical space-based and terrestrial infrastructure,” said Ashok Raman, CFD research director and principal investigator for the project. “Operators of such systems have a compelling need for a capability to forecast major space-weather storms and potential effects to enable risk mitigation.”
Models and tools for solar weather predictions are available; however, they often tend to be research-oriented and not necessarily suitable for operations.
CFD Research and the University of Alabama in Huntsville are about to change that by developing the Radiation, Interplanetary Shocks, and Coronal Sources toolset. This program will enhance research codes and integrate them into a software product for assessment and decision-making related to space operations.
“A predictive capability for SPE-induced radiation and resulting operational effects can help mission/equipment managers schedule tasks and adopt risk mitigation strategies,” said Matt Bender, vice president of CFD Research’s Energy & Materials Division. “This is directly relevant to government agencies and commercial entities with space-based or high-altitude assets (e.g., satellites), commercial aviation, navigation/GPS, radio communications, utilities/power transmission, oil pipelines, and such.”
Solar winds are charged particles emitted from the sun. Potentially damaging space weather events occur when disturbances in the sun’s atmosphere interact with the solar winds and reach the Earth’s magnetosphere.
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