Juha-Pekka Luntama, European Space Agency; Alexi Glover, European Space Agency; Melanie Heil, European Space Agency; Stefan Kraft, European Space Agency
Keywords: ESA, space weather,
Abstract:
European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Programme has been developing since 2009 the European Space Weather (SWE) System for the capability to provide operational space weather services to support protection of European space and ground based assets against adverse effects from space weather. This system is based on use of European space weather assets through a federated network consisting of thematic Expert Service Centres (ESCs) and SSA Space Weather Service Coordination Centre (SSCC). Many European space weather centres of excellence in academia, research institutes and industry are already part of the network and inclusion of additional groups in the framework of coming ESA space weather activities. This allows the system to efficiently utilise the scientific research and application prototyping that is carried out in academia and research institutes accross Europe. The results of the development activities and particularly the space weather forecasting and nowcasting tools that have been made available to the users can be found from the ESA Space Weasther Service Portal: http://swe.ssa.esa.int/
In parallel to the development of services, models and applicaitons, ESA is developing European space weather monitoring capability for operational services. The Enhanced Space Weather Monitoring System under development utilises essentially all available methods for space weather monitoring combining space based hosted payload and SmallSat/nanosatellite missions and larger, dedicated space missions targeting solar and heliospheric observations outside Earth’s magnetic field with ground based and airborne observations. The first hosted payload missions are already in operation and procurements and developments of instruments for further missions are in progress. In parallel ESA is developing a medium size dedicated space weather mission that will provide solar imaging, coronagraphy and in-situ solar wind observtions away from the Sun-Earth line. The data from all these space weather monitoring missions will be made available for operational space weather services in near real-time.
Date of Conference: September 15-18, 2020
Track: Atmospherics/Space Weather