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Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society
135
7
Space Weather and Space Climatology:
A Vision for Future Capabilities
MOTIVATION—ECONOMIC AND SOCIETAL VALUE
The availability of timely and reliable space-based information about our environment underpins
elements of the infrastructure that are critical to a modern society. From economic and societal perspectives, reliable knowledge on a range of timescales of conditions in the geospace environment (including
the mesosphere, thermosphere, ionosphere, exosphere, geocorona, plasmasphere, and magnetosphere)
is important for multiple applications, prominent among them utilization of radio signals (which enables
increasingly precise navigation and communication), as well as mitigation of deleterious effects such as drag
on Earth-orbiting objects (which alters the location of spacecraft, threatens their functionality by collisions
with debris, and impedes reliable determination of reentry). In addition, energetic particles can damage
assets and humans in space, and currents induced in ground systems can disrupt and damage power grids
and pipelines, a topic that has been a focus of recent research (Box 7.1).
Moreover, society expects and relies on instant coverage of events, the ability to communicate to
remote corners of the world, and the availability of geospatial information needed for national security
and other purposes. However, the space-based technologies that provide this information are vulnerable
to the conditions in the dynamic and complex space environment through which radio waves propagate
and where satellites orbit. In this chapter, the survey committee presents its vision for a comprehensive
program consisting of observations, models, and forecasting, enhanced beyond current capabilities, to help
protect these critical technologies.
Understanding space weather and climate is a prerequisite for fulfilling at least two directives of U.S.
national space policy: 1
1. “Take necessary measures to sustain the radiofrequency environment in which critical U.S. space
systems operate.” Societal use of the radio wave spectrum is growing dramatically, but its reliability and
1 “National Space Policy of the United States of America,” June 28, 2010, available at http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/649374main_062810_
national_space_policy.pdf.
Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society
135
7
Space Weather and Space Climatology:
A Vision for Future Capabilities
MOTIVATION—ECONOMIC AND SOCIETAL VALUE
The availability of timely and reliable space-based information about our environment underpins
elements of the infrastructure that are critical to a modern society. From economic and societal perspectives, reliable knowledge on a range of timescales of conditions in the geospace environment (including
the mesosphere, thermosphere, ionosphere, exosphere, geocorona, plasmasphere, and magnetosphere)
is important for multiple applications, prominent among them utilization of radio signals (which enables
increasingly precise navigation and communication), as well as mitigation of deleterious effects such as drag
on Earth-orbiting objects (which alters the location of spacecraft, threatens their functionality by collisions
with debris, and impedes reliable determination of reentry). In addition, energetic particles can damage
assets and humans in space, and currents induced in ground systems can disrupt and damage power grids
and pipelines, a topic that has been a focus of recent research (Box 7.1).
Moreover, society expects and relies on instant coverage of events, the ability to communicate to
remote corners of the world, and the availability of geospatial information needed for national security
and other purposes. However, the space-based technologies that provide this information are vulnerable
to the conditions in the dynamic and complex space environment through which radio waves propagate
and where satellites orbit. In this chapter, the survey committee presents its vision for a comprehensive
program consisting of observations, models, and forecasting, enhanced beyond current capabilities, to help
protect these critical technologies.
Understanding space weather and climate is a prerequisite for fulfilling at least two directives of U.S.
national space policy: 1
1. “Take necessary measures to sustain the radiofrequency environment in which critical U.S. space
systems operate.” Societal use of the radio wave spectrum is growing dramatically, but its reliability and
1 “National Space Policy of the United States of America,” June 28, 2010, available at http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/649374main_062810_
national_space_policy.pdf.