Suprathermal ion sensors in space will enable the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to track solar activity and events that could affect communications systems on Earth and for space-related missions. Image by NASA
Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory is NASA's choice to build suprathermal ion sensors for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Lagrange 1 Series project for space weather detection.
The Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., will get $20.5 million in federal funding to develop two suprathermal ion sensor instruments at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Fla., NASA officials announced Tuesday.
The work is scheduled through Jan. 31, 2034, and includes the design, manufacturing and testing of the instruments.
The suprathermal ion sensors "will provide critical data to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center" that "issues forecasts, warnings and alerts that help mitigate space weather impacts," Jeremy Eggers of the Goddard Space Flight Center said.
The Space Weather Prediction Center tracks space events that could cause power outages and interrupt communication and navigation systems.
The sensors will measure suprathermal ions and electrons and track them in real time to ensure early warming of space weather impacts on Earth and NASA near-space, moon and Mars missions, Eggers said.
The sensors also will monitor ions to track solar ejections, co-rotating interaction regions and interplanetary shocks to better identify the strength of solar winds and other solar events and how long it will take for them to arrive and affect communications and navigation systems.
Such space weather includes solar winds and other solar events, including coronal mass ejections, that can interact with planetary magnetic systems and alter the radiation environment on Earth.
Space weather can interfere with GPS signals, radio communications and satellite electronics and affect spacecraft orbits.
