NASA studies the impact of “space weather” on Earth the sun

NASA is funding concept studies on Five important proposals Which aims to study the dynamic and changing nature of the sun The space environment induced by this around the Earth.

This information will help in understanding how “space weather” affects satellites in orbit, which provide navigation and communications; Technology on Earth, such as power plants; And the health of astronauts in interplanetary trips.

The five proposals are: Storm, which will study the way energy flows into and through Earth space; HelioSwarm, which studies the particle flux from the Sun at a variety of scales; Moses, who will monitor events in the sun’s atmosphere with unprecedented accuracy; Arcs, which would study the detailed way in which auroras occur on Earth due to space weather; Solaris, which will return images of the polar regions invisible to the sun.

The five proposals were chosen because of the valuable science to which each mission will return, and because they can be built and launched using current technology.

Each study is valued at $ 1.25 million (£ 1 million) and will be conducted simultaneously, and will last for nine months. At the end of this time, NASA It will evaluate studies and then select two proposals to proceed with the launch.