Planning the Future Space Weather Operations and Research Infrastructure Proceedings of the Phase II Workshop (2022) / Chapter Skim
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6 Research Infrastructure
6 Research Infrastructure
Pages 74-94
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From page 74... ...
• New capabilities are needed for managing the larger data volumes now being produced, including techniques for processing data onboard the spacecraft. As capabilities have steadily increased in areas such as spacecraft development, launch systems, modeling and data analytics, instrumentation, and commercial data product services, the space weather community's view of the future of science mission infrastructure and operations has changed.
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From page 75... ...
The following summarizes the key points from the panel presentations and discussions. Programmatic, Policy, and Contracting Innovations for New Observations In Kasper's presentation, Milestone-Based Reimbursable Space Weather Missions Leading to Department of Commerce or Department of Defense Data Purchase Agreements, he advocated for the development of a commercial data-buy architecture to produce heliophysics data products.
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Kasper presented an example mission architecture that could benefit heliospheric science simultaneously with providing a milestone-based reimbursable space weather monitoring capability and data purchase agreement structure for the Department of Commerce and Department of Defense (DoD) (Figure 6-1)
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. FIGURE 6-2 The Ball Aerospace MOSAIC mission analysis suite optimizes and streamlines mission design from top-level mission goals.
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and increasing launch vehicle rideshare opportunities in collaboration with the Planetary Science Division at NASA could be an effective means of broadening future space mission architectures for heliophysics (Figure 6-3)
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maturation and qualification is as yet not well understood for the constellations; these issues must be addressed to ensure successful heliophysics constellation architectures. New Architectures to Overcome Observational and Modeling Deficiencies In the next presentation, 4p HeliOS Mission Concept to Advance Space Weather Research and Operations, Berger discussed how current observations of the Sun are very limited (Figure 6-4)
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From page 80... ...
of greater than 10 hours. Furthermore, inaccuracies in the polar extrapolations, which are used as model input, lead to very poor values for the solar wind speeds, which in turn compromises arrival time estimates for coronal mass ejections (CMEs)
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From page 81... ...
In Lepri's presentation, Perspectives from the Heliosphere: ICMEs, SEPs, Suprathermal Particles and the Nature and Structure of the Solar Wind, she emphasized how observational gaps related to ICMEs (interplanetary coronal mass ejections) , shocks, and the bulk solar wind limit the space weather forecasting/nowcasting capability and the understanding of how to derive key parameters, such as time of arrival, duration, and the geo-effectiveness of the structures at Earth.
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. While heavy ion composition has shown promise in identifying different solar wind types, the lack of real-time monitoring of the ion composition adversely affects the quality of space weather nowcasting.
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Ultimately, the goals of observing the suprathermal and heavy ion components should be to enhance predictive capability, understand the background solar wind, and build a climatology of solar wind parameters. Mission architectures to support those goals would include distributed systems both in and out of the Sun–Earth line.
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Vourlidas spoke about the importance of developing architectures that bridge the major gap that exists between solar, heliophysics, and geospace research. In bridging the gap from the solar wind to geospace, care must be taken to implement a "peri-geospace" architecture that would include a system of L1-Earth "cyclers." These dedicated platforms would provide sampling of solar wind conditions off the Sun–Earth line and address the transient scale problem important for space weather.
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While the panel did not explicitly address costs, the requirements they outlined suggested that new ways of managing programs will be needed to increase the efficiency of the building and operations of constellations as well as the efficiency of data delivery. Constellations built by multiple partners and in phases could support development of sustainable mission architectures constructed in affordable steps.
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The specific topics discussed by this panel included the role of ground-based research-grade instruments and nontraditional data sources, commercial data acquisition, data fusion and heterogeneous ground-space-based multi-point distributed measurements, and the impact of space weather and situational awareness on the ability to deploy spacecraft safely in low Earth orbit. Infrastructure and Data Systems for New Observations Erickson's presentation was titled Ground-Based Instruments: Considerations for Usable Space Weather Data.
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Such operational space weather measurement systems must be designed as networks from the start. As discussed in other panels, the OSSEs can characterize optimal instrument placement, performance, and use, and thus help in designing the network.
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The different needs of the end users may limit the use of such data sets -- retrospective analysis for scientific advances can be more accommodating than the operationally oriented space weather applications, whose needs require a rigorous approach to data production. Erickson also commented on the workforce development pressures that arise from the need to understand the production-level requirements of the space weather systems.
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Millan described ongoing efforts to take advantage of opportunities to gain radiation belt monitoring capability. Given sufficient advance planning and resources, real-time space weather beacons, built based on the experience from the Van Allen Probes, could be realized in collaborations between NASA, NOAA, ( ;5( FIGURE 6-12 Radiation belt environment from the Radiation Belt Storm Probe (RBSP)
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Data acquisition for research can be economical, particularly if it is done on a non-interference basis with a commercial mission without assurance of continuous data access. However, scientific use typically requires intercalibration of the sensors, and data assimilation into a common framework can be a challenge if there are data quality issues or if required ancillary data are not readily available.
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From page 91... ...
Nevertheless, such methods may provide new insights for first-principles models for intense and unusual events. In the panel's final presentation, Space Weather and Space Situational Analysis, Babcock, from Starlink Guidance, Navigation, and Control at SpaceX, provided a commercial perspective on the importance of space weather data for constellation management and collision avoidance in low Earth orbit.
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From page 92... ...
Norton and Baker suggested that public–private partnerships could be used to generate data products that satisfy both science and operational requirements, and that this could be useful in sustaining infrastructure and capabilities for both space weather operations and scientific research. Tomoko Matsuo suggested that a potential way to establish connections between academia and industry would be to have student projects focusing on space weather questions relevant to companies.
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Millan answered that the situation is not satisfactory, noting that given the long development times, it will likely not be until after the next solar maximum that there are new systems that can replace the DMSP or the Van Allen Probes observations. Several participants also pointed out the need for multi-point measurements at the higher altitudes above the radiation belts, especially in the nightside magnetotail.
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