# Presentation: 789719

## SPACE WEATHER ASSESSMENT STUDY GROUP 

**SPACE WEATHER ASSESSMENT STUDY GROUP**** **
- July 7, 2005
- Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology
- Silver Spring, Maryland
- Richard Fisher
- Science Mission Directorate
- NASA Headquarters

## Where Have We Been ?

- Theory, Data, and Modeling
- Extended Missions
- SWx  and Earth’s Climate
- TSI
- CME
- Solar Wind

## Solar Cycle Variance of the Earth’s Radiation Belt

- Solar Energetic
- Particle Events
- And CME’s

- Long Duration high speed
- solar wind streams

- Sunspot Number

- Solar Wind Velocity

- Radiation Belt Density vs Time  (SAMPEX  1992-2004)

- Observed
- radius of
- Plasmapause
- (black line)

## January 2005

- “Killer” SEP (ACE SOHO and GOES)

## 
Source/Cause

**Source/****Cause**

_**Space Weather**_
- Sun
- “Explosive” mass and electromagnetic energy release
- Solar wind velocity and density variations

_**Space Climatology**_
- Sun
- Solar wind velocity and density variations
- EUV emission variation
- Global solar magnetic field orientation

- Space Weather vs. Space Climatology—Do they have different sources/causes?

## Universal Structure and Processes

_**Gravitationally Dominated**_
-  Familiar Physics - Two forces:
-  Pressure
-  Gravity

_**Magnetically Driven**_
- Sun-Solar System Connection Physics - Three forces:
- Pressure
-  Gravity
-  Magnetism

- Galaxies                   Nebulae

**Stars/Sun:**

- Magnetars

- Pulsars

**Planets:**

- Planetary  Magnetospheres

- Aurorae

- Ionospheres       Atmospheric Chemistry

- Solar Variability

- Total  Solar Irradiance / Climate

- CMEs

- Flares

- Heliosphere

- The dynamic interplay between the three forces (pressure, gravity, and magnetism) in the various venues of the solar system - the Sun’s atmosphere; the interplay between the Sun and the heliosphere;  the interfaces between planets, their magnetospheres and the heliosphere; and the boundary between the solar system and the galaxy.

_**Space Weather**_

- Stellar Magnetism

## Where Are We Now ?

- Theory, Data, and Modeling
- Near Term Launch Plans
- Fifth Great Observatory
- SWx Development
- TRT
- CCMC
- Earth’s Climate
- GEC
- G- rays
- Astrochemistry of the Earth’s and other Planetary Atmospheres

## MLS has provided the first observation of a solar proton flare enhancing mesospheric OH and its resulting destruction of mesospheric ozone
Images at right show solar proton flux from  mid-Jan 2005 solar flare and its resulting effects on Arctic OH and ozone 
Earth’s magnetic field ‘funnels’ protons into polar regions where this effect is observed, most prominently in the Arctic night shown here
Expected related effects have been detected by MLS in the Antarctic and in mesospheric HO2

- Aura MLS First Observes Solar Proton Effects

**MLS has provided the first observation of a solar proton flare enhancing mesospheric OH and its resulting destruction of mesospheric ozone**
**Images at right show solar proton flux from  mid-Jan 2005 solar flare and its resulting effects on Arctic OH and ozone**** **
**Earth’s magnetic field ‘funnels’ protons into polar regions where this effect is observed, most prominently in the Arctic night shown here**
**Expected related effects have been detected by MLS in the Antarctic and in mesospheric HO****2**

***Solar Flare Affecting Mesospheric OH and Ozone***** **

## IMAGE Mission

**Flashes in the Sky: Lightning Zaps Space Radiation Surrounding Earth**

- When lightning makes your favorite AM radio station crackle and pop, it is also cleaning up a radiation hazard overhead.
- Lightning in clouds only a few miles above the ground clears a safe zone in the radiation belts thousands of miles above the Earth, according to new NASA research. The unexpected new result resolves a forty-year-old debate as to how the safe zone is formed.

- The safe zone, called the "Van Allen Belt slot," is a potential haven offering reduced radiation dosages for satellites that require Middle Earth Orbits (MEOs). Understanding this phenomenon may lead to ways to reduce the hazards of operating in these zones, which potentially could be a dramatic benefit to the Vision for Space Exploration in the future. Recent research from the IMAGE
- Mission accounts for the gap in the radiation belts.

- According to the lightning theory for slot formation, radio waves emitted by lightning clear the safe zone by interacting with the radiation belt particles, removing a little of their energy and changing their direction. This lowers the place above the polar regions where the particles bounce (called the mirror point). Eventually, the mirror point becomes so low that it is in the Earth's atmosphere. When this happens, the radiation belt particles can no longer bounce back into space, because they collide with atmospheric particles and dissipate their energy.

## Destruction of Arctic Ozone this Winter

**Aura’s MLS has quantified ozone destruction in the 2004-2005 Arctic winter**
**unprecedended suite of simultaneous measurements by MLS allows more accurate quantification of ozone destruction than previously possible**
**the destruction this winter reached a level seen only once before in the Arctic**
**Transport processes compensated for the destruction to an unusual degree this winter, resulting in near-average Arctic ozone amounts in spring**

**HCl **
- (“safe” chlorine)

**ClO**
**(‘purple’ abundances ****destroy ozone at rate ****of ~1% per day)**

**Ozone**

**MLS maps at 18 km height for selected days in 2004-2005 **

## RHESSI  Mission

- A great mystery was set in motion a few years ago when a spacecraft designed to measure gamma-ray bursts -- the most powerful explosions in the Universe -- found that Earth was actually emitting some flashes of its own.

**Flashes in the Sky: Earth's Gamma-Ray Bursts Triggered by Lightning**

- Named Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs), these very short blasts of gamma rays lasting about one millisecond, are emitted into space from Earth's upper atmosphere. Scientists believe electrons traveling at nearly the speed of light scatter off of atoms and decelerate in the upper atmosphere, emitting the TGFs

**"The energies we see are as high as those of gamma rays emitted from black holes and neutron stars,"**** **

## Community Coordinated Modeling Center Heliospheric Model - 4 July 2005

**http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/RTdisplay_Hel_RA.cgi**

## CCMC:

**NASA**

**NSF**

**AF SMC/CI**

**AFOSR**

**ONR**

**NOAA/SEC**

**AF/XOW - AFWA**

**AFRL**

**CCMC:**

## CCMC

- Facilitate
- Community Research

- Support Model
- Transition to Operations

- DoD and NOAA Space Weather
- Needs

- Community Coordinated Modeling Center Goals

- In November 2003, the Voyager team announced it was seeing events unlike any encountered before in the mission's then 26-year history. The team believed the unusual events indicated Voyager 1 was approaching a strange region of space, likely the beginning of this new frontier called the termination shock region. There was considerable controversy at that time over whether Voyager 1 had indeed encountered the termination shock or was just getting close.

- Voyager At The Edge of The Solar System

**Notes:**
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered the solar system's final frontier. It is entering a vast, turbulent expanse, where the sun's influence ends and the solar wind crashes into the thin gas between stars.

"Voyager 1 has entered the final lap on its race to the edge of interstellar space," said Dr. Edward Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, which built and operates Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2.

In November 2003, the Voyager team announced it was seeing events unlike any in the mission's then 26-year history. The team believed the unusual events indicated Voyager 1 was approaching a strange region of space, likely the beginning of this new frontier called the termination shock region. There was considerable controversy over whether Voyager 1 had indeed encountered the termination shock or was just getting close.

The termination shock is where the solar wind, a thin stream of electrically charged gas blowing continuously outward from the sun, is slowed by pressure from gas between the stars. At the termination shock, the solar wind slows abruptly from a speed that ranges from 700,000 to 1.5 million mph and becomes denser and hotter. The consensus of the team is Voyager 1, at approximately 8.7 billion miles from the sun, has at last entered the heliosheath, the region beyond the termination shock.

Predicting the location of the termination shock was hard, because the precise conditions in interstellar space are unknown. Also, changes in the speed and pressure of the solar wind cause the termination shock to expand, contract and ripple.

The most persuasive evidence that Voyager 1 crossed the termination shock is its measurement of a sudden increase in the strength of the magnetic field carried by the solar wind, combined with an inferred decrease in its speed. This happens whenever the solar wind slows down.

In December 2004, the Voyager 1 dual magnetometers observed the magnetic field strength suddenly increasing by a factor of approximately 2 1/2, as expected when the solar wind slows down. The magnetic field has remained at these high levels since December. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., built the magnetometers.

Voyager 1 also observed an increase in the number of high-speed electrically charged electrons and ions and a burst of plasma wave noise before the shock. This would be expected if Voyager 1 passed the termination shock. The shock naturally accelerates electrically charged particles that bounce back and forth between the fast and slow winds on opposite sides of the shock, and these particles can generate plasma waves.

## Voyager Crosses Termination Shock in 2005

-      The consensus of the Voyager team now is that Voyager 1, at 8.7 billion miles from the Sun, has at last entered the heliosheath, the region beyond the termination shock. The result was presented May 24 at a press conference in the Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, during the 2005 Joint Assembly meeting of Earth and Space Science organizations.

## S3C Research Focus Area Missions

_**SOLAR:**_
**RHESSI**
**SDO**
**SOHO**
**Solar-B**
**STEREO**
**TRACE**

_**SOLAR IRRADIANCE:**_
**ACRIMSAT**
**ERBS**
**SORCE**
**UARS**

_**MAGNETOSPHERIC / IONOSPHERIC/**_
_**THERMOSPHERIC**_
**AIM**
**CINDI**
**Cluster**
**FAST**
**Genesis**
**Geotail**
**IMAGE**
**Polar**
**THEMIS**
**TIMED**
**TWINS**

_**HELIOSPHERIC:**_
**ACE**
**Ulysses**
**Wind**
**Voyager 1 & 2**
**IBEX**

**S3C Research Focus Area Missions**

## The 5th Great Observatory

**The 5th Great Observatory**

_**The “5th Great Observatory”**_
**World’s largest and most expensive plasma physics laboratory**
**Enabled  investigation of the Sun-Solar System “system of systems”**
**~ $5B investment; ~ $100M/yr annual budget**
- 13 magnetometers
- 9 E-field analyzers
- 15 plasma analyzers
- 31 energetic particle spectrometers
- 4 neutral particle imagers
- 9  RF spectrometers
- 3 visible imagers
- 3 doppler interferometers
- 8 UV and x-ray imag
- ers
- 6 UV and x-ray spectrometers
- 1 IR radiometer
- 4 gamma ray spectrometers

## NASA Science Launches(CY04-CY10)

- Airborne Msn

- Us Inst. On Foreign Msn

- Foreign Msn on US LV

- US Msn on US LV

- US Msn on DoD LV

****** ****GP-B**
****** ****Messenger**
****** ****SWIFT**
****** ****Aura**
****** ****Rosetta**

****** ****Deep Impact**
**NOAA N**
**GOES N**
**ST-6**
** **
**CALIPSO**
**CloudSat **
**MRO**
**TWINS-A**
**CINDI**
**Astro-E2**
**SOFIA**

**STEREO**
**New**
**Horizons**
**DAWN**
**ST-5**
**THEMIS**
**AIM**
**NPP**
**TWINS-B**
**SOLAR B**

-  Success    Failure

- US Participation on Foreign Msn

**KEPLER**
**Phoenix****Lander**
**GLAST**
**NOAA N’**
**GOES O**
**OCO**
**Herschel**
**Planck**

**IBEX**
**WISE**
**ST-7**
**ST-8**
**SDO**
**LRO**
**OSTM**
**GOES P**
**Aquarius**

**MSL**
**Mars****Telecom**
**Lunar****Lander**

- NASA Science Launches(CY04-CY10)

**ST-9**
**Hydros**
**GPM**

**LWS RBSP?**

** ****JUNO?**

## Solar-TErrestrial RElations Observatory

- (STEREO - April 2006)

** ****Sun-Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (**_**SECCHI**_**); P.I. R. Howard (NRL) **

** ****In situ Measurements of Particles and CME Transients (**_**IMPACT**_**); P.I. J. Luhmann (UCB) **

** ****STEREO/WAVES (**_**S/WAVES**_**); P.I. J.L. Bougeret (Meudon) **

** ****Plasma and SupraThermal Ion and Composition (**_**PLASTIC**_**); P.I. T. Galvin (UNH) **

** ****Integration nearing completion; environmental testing to begin soon;**
** ****Real-time space weather beacon implemented on each spacecraft**
** ****NOAA coordinating network of antennas to collect beacon data**
** ****NASA STEREO Science Center will process and distribute beacon data**** **

_**INSTRUMENTS:**_

## Where Are We Going?

- Theory, Data, and Modeling
- Advanced Missions, the Solar System Observatory (SSO), and the Sun-Solar System Connection Data Environment
- SWx Development
- Earth’s Climate

## Sun-Solar System Connection Roadmap: Knowledge for Exploration

_*Explore the Sun-Earth system*_* to understand the*
*Sun and its effects on *
*Earth, *
*the solar system,*
*the space environmental conditions that will be experienced by human explorers, and*
*demonstrate technologies that can improve future operational systems *

- Sun-Solar System Connection Roadmap: Knowledge for Exploration

**Notes:**
SLIDE DESCRIPTION:  NASA’s document, The New Age of Exploration: NASA’s Direction for 2005 and Beyond, published February 2005, established 18 NASA Strategic objectives to guide the agency’s course.  Strategic Objective #15, shown on this slide, is the subject of the Sun-Solar System Connection Roadmap:

Agency Strategic Objective: Explore the Sun-Earth system to understand the Sun and its effects on the Earth, the solar system, and the space environmental conditions that will be experienced by human explorers, and demonstrate technologies that can improve future operational systems

BACKGROUND IMAGE:  The slide background shows images that together, embody the spirit of this branch of science.  At the center is a large image of the sun near solar maximum when sun spots are most frequent and at their most active stage.  In the lower left, an image of the Earth illuminated by the sun and crowned with auroral arcs illustrates the role that sunlight plays in maintaining our atmosphere and illustrates that impulsive solar activity induces powerful space storms that impact both our environment and our technology.  The smaller images of Jupiter - with its aurora, Mars - with its polar ice caps, and of the distant star system remind us that success in this venture requires new understanding of the complex physical systems that link the variable star at the center of our solar system with the Earth and other planets.  In the lower right corner of the background is an image of an astronaut on an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) in space.  The safety and productivity of our astronauts will be immeasurably enhanced by a thorough understanding of the harsh and dynamic environment in which they must operate.

## Space Weather Triad

-  Data from the Solar System Observatory (SSO)
-        and the SSSC Data Environment
-  Theory from expanded national efforts involving NSF, USAF,
-         NOAA, and NASA.
- Advanced Model calculation using enhanced assimilation,
-       techniques, advanced computing assets, and expanded
-       national infrastructure (NSF, USAF, NOAA, and NASA)

## Elements of S3C Strategy2005-2010

- Elements of S3C Strategy2005-2010

**Vital Goal**
**Available Resource**
**Political Will**

- SECAS **Roadmap**
**Decadal Study**
**Code S Strategic Plan** (Winter 2003)
**The New Age Of Exploration** (February 2005)
**STP** Mission Line, **LWS**  Program Mission Line, **Explorer** Program   (including MOOs),
- ESD Earth-Sun Research (FY06)
**Vision for Space Exploration **(2004),** Scientific Community**, **Agency**,  **Executive Branch,** and **Congress**

- Classic Strategy                      SEC Strategic Element

## Approach to Identify Priority Science Targets

- Predictive capability for safe and productive exploration requires full understanding of a complex system of disparate systems
- Priority goals enable significant progress in three essential areas:  Understanding, Exploration, and Discovery

- For example, discovery of near-Sun processes by Solar Probe provides transformational knowledge of the source of space weather enabling explorers to work safely and productively beyond Earth's magnetic shield

**Notes:**
SLIDE DESCRIPTION:  
Science and exploration of the Sun - Solar System Connection occupies a valuable niche in the Science Mission Directorate:  it contributes knowledge that transforms our understanding of the universe; it provides practical understanding of issues that affect our technological society and enables exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond; and SSSC science is enabled by the missions that explore the bodies of the solar system.
The interplay of exploration, discovery, and understanding provided the guidance for prioritizing the program elements. Characterization of the space environment is required for the design of exploration vehicles. Exploration of Mars and other destinations in the solar system provide the opportunity to measure conditions in different environments that help us understand our own world better.  New physical understanding of the Sun and its interaction with a planetary magnetosphere provide information about the habitability of worlds near other stars.  These all contribute to developing future operational systems.
For example the Magnetospheric Multi-Scale mission, MMS, focuses on gaining transformational knowledge of reconnection – a very small-scale plasma physics process.  Understanding this process that regulates large-scale energy release will help understand particle acceleration related to radiation safety for explorers and the initiation of flares and coronal mass ejections that drive space weather.  MMS will complement other elements of the SSSC Great Observatory to address multiple objectives.

IMAGE:
The intersecting ovals illustrate the intersection of three categories of science: 1) science that is enabled by exploration, 2) science that transforms knowledge, and 3) science that enables exploration.  At the intersection of the three, lies the priority Sun-Solar System Connection Science. Sun-Solar System Connection is focused on science that is Vital, Compelling and Urgent.

## External and Internal Factors

- We are poised to transform knowledge and provide predictive understanding of the SSSC system

- Our technological society needs space weather knowledge to function efficiently
- Human beings require space weatherpredictions to work safely and productively in space

**Notes:**
SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
 In developing its strategic plan, the Sun-Solar System Connection Roadmap team spent considerable time in research and discussions to define those internal and external factors that have, or should have, significant impact on this scientific program.  An approach known as SWOT analysis is often used to gain this insight. SWOT analysis focuses on internal strengths (and weaknesses) and external opportunities (and threats).   Materials provided to the roadmap for this purpose included a wide range of National Research Council (NRC) reports provided by Art Richmond;, previous roadmap reports for NASA’s Office of Space Science and the Office of Earth Science, Sun-Earth Connection science definition team reports,  and all available documentation for NASA’s new Vision for Space Exploration. 
The guiding external and internal factors, as perceived by the team, are shown on this slide:
Our society needs space weather knowledge to function efficiently
Human beings require space weather predictions to work safely and productively in space
We are poised to provide knowledge and predictive understanding of the system

IMAGES ( LEFT TO RIGHT):
 Aurora Australis (the southern lights) during a magnetic storm.
 Large coronal mass ejection (CME) observed as it lifted off the sun
 Photograph of an oil pipeline, through which geomagnetically induced currents can flow.  Space weather-induced currents create galvanic effects in oil and gas pipelines, leading to rapid corrosion at the pipeline joints if they are not properly grounded.  Such corrosion requires expensive repairs or can lead to permanent damage.  Furthermore signals used during geomagnetic surveys (e.g., search for natural resources such as oil and gas) are significantly affected by the varying magnetic fields during geomagnetic storms.
Simulation of the Earth’s radiation belts illustrating the large area of space around Earth in which intense radiation can be trapped and remain for many months.
Deep Space Network 70-meter communication antenna at Goldstone, California.  The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is one of three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). The DSN provides radio communications for all of NASA's interplanetary spacecraft and is also utilized for radio astronomy and radar observations of the solar system and the universe.
 Illustration of radiation particle interacting with a strand of human DNA
Astronaut on an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA)  with the Sun in background.
8.  Dust storm on Mars surface, robotic vehicle in foreground.  The thin soil on Mars can be picked up by high winds to create dust storms that sweep down plains and can sometimes envelop most of the planet.  Most “explanations” of the dust storms begin with radiant energy from the Sun, but scientists question whether it is solar heating, or electricity, that powers these storms in the near vacuum of the Martian atmosphere.

## Nature of the Challenge

- Integration and synthesis of multi-point observations
- Data assimilative models & theory
- Interdisciplinary communities and tools

- A quantitative, predictive understanding of a complex system of systems
- Microphysical processes regulate global & interplanetary structures
- Multi-constituent plasmasand complex photochemistry
- Non-linear dynamic responses

- _Solar CME engulfing the Earth:  http://sun.stanford.edu/roadmap/NewZoom2.mov _

## We Have Already Begun!

- Disturbed Upper Atmosphere

- Space Storms at the Outer Planets

- Solar System Blast Wave

- Disturbed Mars-Space & Atmospheric Loss

- Dangerous Radiation

- Space Storms at Earth

- Current Sun-Earth missions provide a prototype “SSSC Great Observatory”, providing a first look at the system level view and informing the roadmap plan
- Theory, modeling, and observational tools now exist or can be developed to yield both transformational knowledge of the Sun-Earth system and provide needed tools and space weather knowledge for human exploration and societal needs
- The SSSC Great Observatory must adapt as new questions and capabilities arise.

**Notes:**
SLIDE DESCRIPTION:  
The Sun-Solar System science group operates a small fleet of solar, heliospheric, and geospace spacecraft that function in tandem to understand the coupled system that is the Sun-Solar System; its activity and interaction with the Earth and other planetary systems.  By operating this group of spacecraft as a single observatory, diverse measurements across distributed spatial scales can be linked with a variety of models to fill observational gaps and provide predictions of tomorrow’s space weather. Continuing and evolving this distributed asset to meet the needs of the Vision for Exploration is one of the community’s highest priorities.
The very large “Halloween Superstorms” is an example of the unique and powerful capability of the Great Observatory to view a system of systems.  The effects of the superstorms from the Sun to the Earth and beyond were observed simultaneously in key regions and from several vantage points. It would not have been possible to link the consequences of these superstorms at Earth to the solar drivers without this collection of satellites and the human and computational resources to interpret the observations. 
The Solar System Observatory will necessarily evolve as new strategically placed spacecraft join and older missions are taken out of service or change their operating modes.  Regular evaluations and reviews will maximize the return on these agency investments.

IMAGES: (central figure first, then clockwise, starting from upper right)
This composition of images illustrates the wide range of space weather effects observed in our solar system during a particularly strong series of solar eruptions.  
False color composite picture of the Sun. The sun is the center object in green.  The area in red is a close-up view of the Sun’s atmosphere (corona) where massive eruptions of electrified gas (plasma) called coronal mass ejections were seen as white areas moving rapidly away from the Sun.  The blue area is a wide-angle view of the corona.  All told, about 17 major flares erupted on the Sun during those two weeks in October 2003, the result of energy building up in the Sun's magnetic field lines until they become strained enough to suddenly snap like an overstretched rubber band.  The related coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were the largest explosions ever observed in the solar system, launching up to 10 billion tons of electrified gas into space, at speeds of one to two million miles an hour. While humans were protected by Earth's magnetosphere and atmosphere, power grids, radio and GPS signals, satellites, and astronauts in space were affected.
 Loss of Mars Atmosphere:  Near-Mars space is strikingly different from Earth-space because of the absence of a substantial, intrinsic Martian magnetic field.  Without the magnetic cavity of a magnetosphere to shield the upper atmosphere from the on-coming solar wind, Mars was subjected to comet-like atmosphere erosion processes and solar-wind-induced current systems.  The MARIE instrument on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft stopped taking observations when CME induced currents overheated a power converter.
Space Storms at the Outer Planets:   The Ulysses spacecraft near Jupiter and the Cassini spacecraft near Saturn both detected radio waves from the Halloween magnetic storms generated as the blast wave slammed into the vast magnetic fields around those giant planets. 
Solar System Blast Wave:   The storms launched billions of tons of electrified gas (plasma) that blasted by Earth within a day and past Mars hours later. The material blasted by Earth at five million miles per hour (eight million km/hr) and raced past spacecraft near Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn finally being seen Voyager almost eight months after the initial solar activity occurred.
Dangerous Radiation:  There are at least two kinds of solar storm radiation effects: prompt radiation and shocks that accelerate electrically charged (ionized) atomic particles. The prompt radiation travels at nearly the speed of light and causes the most severe radiation effects on human activity in space.  The shocks that accelerate particles to millions of miles per hour take longer to develop, but pack the biggest wallop when it comes to the aurora, power grids, long-distance radio communications, Earth's electrically charged upper atmosphere (ionosphere), and energetic particles that become trapped in the Earth's Van Allen radiation belts.  
Space Storms at Earth:  The storms' effects on Earth were severe enough to cause the rerouting of aircraft, affect satellite operations, and precipitate a power failure in Malmoe, Sweden. Long-distance radio communications were disrupted because of the effects on the ionosphere, and northern lights (aurora borealis) were seen as far south as Florida. Fortunately no NASA satellites near Earth were severely damaged by the storms ˇ a tribute to advance planning and engineering.  The International Space Station astronauts curtailed some of their activities and took shelter in the Russian-supplied Service Module several times during the two-week storm period. 

## Sun-Solar System Connection Objectives

**Open the Frontier to Space Environment Prediction**

**Understand the Nature of Our Home in Space**

**Safeguard Our Outward Journey**

*Understand the fundamental physical processes of the space environment – from the Sun to Earth, to other planets, and beyond to the interstellar medium*

*Understand how human society, technological systems, and the habitability of planets are affected by solar variability and planetary magnetic fields*

*Maximize the safety and productivity of human and robotic explorers by developing the capability to predict the extreme and dynamic conditions in space*

**Agency Strategic Objective: Explore the Sun-Earth system to understand the Sun and its effects on the Earth, the solar system, and the space environmental conditions that will be experienced by human explorers, and demonstrate technologies that can improve future operational systems**

**Notes:**
SLIDE DESCRIPTION:
The Sun-Solar System Connection objectives listed on this slide represent a consensus on priorities.  They guide the selection of investigations and other programmatic decisions.
Open the Frontier to Space Environment Prediction: Understand the fundamental physical processes of the space environment – from the Sun to Earth, to other planets, and beyond to the interstellar medium
Understand the Nature of Our Home in Space:  Understand how human society, technological systems, and the habitability of planets are affected by solar variability and planetary magnetic fields
Safeguard Our Outward Journey:  Maximize the safety and productivity of human and robotic explorers by developing the capability to predict the extreme and dynamic conditions in space
Sun-solar system connection (SSSC) science is focused on space plasma physics, which encompasses processes and phenomena that determine the space environment near the Earth-moon system, throughout interplanetary space, and in the vicinity of every solar system body. Therefore, to the degree that the space environment matters to humans or their technological systems, either on Earth or in space, SSSC science has application to human activities. Penetrating energetic particles and photons, produced by acceleration processes in space plasmas, profoundly and adversely impact any exposed living organism through cellular damage and mutation. They also adversely impact exposed technological systems through episodic and cumulative damage to microcircuits and cumulative degradation of certain materials. Space weather in the vicinity of planetary bodies affects upper atmospheric state (density and wind distributions critical to vehicle aerocapture, ascent, and descent scenarios) and ionospheric state (spatial and temporal electron density distributions that influence navigation systems and all high band-width communications). The situation for long-duration space flight is somewhat analogous to deep-ocean operations of naval ships.  Vessels are designed to survive in various climatic conditions; yet the weather, which can be extreme, limits operations and determines how vessels should be configured in any situation. Similarly, operations in space, i.e., EVAs, maneuvers, operations on lunar and planetary surfaces, and safe harbor (atmospheric) entrance and exit, will depend on the space weather. As in the modern terrestrial case, space weather awareness, understanding, and prediction will be essential enabling activities with respect to Exploration operations. 
The effects of space weather on Earth’s atmosphere are of special interest. Enhanced ozone depletion is a documented consequence of energetic particle precipitation. We are aware of space plasma processes that erode the Earth’s atmosphere, removing TBD kg of Hydrogen and Oxygen daily, and much larger quantities during space storms. We have computer simulations that lead us to infer even greater loss of atmospheric constituents at Mars (which lacks the shielding provided by an intrinsic magnetic field). The potential role of local space weather and/or solar variability in terrestrial climate change is as yet unknown. 
The same processes and phenomena that drive our space weather also shape the environment throughout the universe. We have a typical, variable, main sequence star (the Sun) in our back yard. We live on a fully habitable planet that is largely protected from elements of our local environment by a magnetic shield (what we call a magnetosphere), a feature not shared by all astronomical, or even planetary bodies. As we try to understand the remote universe and its potential to evolve life, it is imperative that we take as full account as possible of the ‘specimens’ we hold in our hands. Therefore, we seek to understand the processes at nearby planetary systems and the larger universe.
IMAGES:
Top right: False color composite picture of the Sun. The sun is the center object in green.  The area in red is a close-up view of the Sun’s atmosphere (corona) where massive eruptions of electrified gas (plasma) called coronal mass ejections can be seen as white areas moving rapidly away from the Sun.  The blue area is a wide-angle view of the corona.
Mid left: Image of electron density enhancements (equatorial arcs) in the Earth’s ionosphere below ~550 km altitude. This is a false color image with each strip representing an orbit cut across the arcs at a fixed local time in the evening. The transport of plasma away from the equator results in  traveling densities enhancements and depletions in bands poleward of the equator. These exist during the daytime and most of the night and create enhanced media transmission errors in navitagation and communication signals.
Bottom right:  Image of an active sun with massive coronal mass ejection lifting off and moving away from the sun.  An image of the Earth is shown nearby for scale comparison.  Such structures, if ejected earthward, can move past the Earth within 2 to 3 days, and past Mars just a few hours later.

## From Goals to Implementation

- Joint Sun-Earth Science

-  2005	                                    2015			    2025		                2035

- Model
- Systems

- Characterize
- Environments

- Forecast
- Hazards

- Magnetic reconnection

- Measure near-Sun space environment

- Sample interstellar medium

- Impacts of solar variability on Earth & Mars

- Particle acceleration processes

- Drivers of cis-lunar space weather

- Physical models of important space weather processes

- Inner heliosphere radiation & space weather forecasts

- Atmospheric response to external drivers

- Predict solar, heliospheric & stellar activity

- Drivers of climate and habitability

- Forecast space weather for society & explorers

- Crew Exploration Vehicle
- Robotic Lunar Exploration

- Human/Robotic
- Lunar Surface Exploration

- Extended Human Operations on
-  Lunar Surface

- Human Exploration
- Near Mars or other solar system locale

- Human Exploration
- of Mars or other solar system locale

- Exploration
- Systems
- Timeline

- Space Weather Impacts on System Design

- Local Space Weather Forecasts for Operations

- Reliable Predictions for all Uses of Space

-         Informs Lunar Exploration                             Informs Extended Human Exploration	      Space Weather Operations

- Phase 1
- Sun-Earth-Moon System
**Characterization of System**

- Phase 2
- Sun - Terrestrial Planets
**Modeling of System Elements**

- Phase 3
- Sun-Solar System
**System Forecasting**

**Notes:**
SLIDE DESCRIPTION:  Expected scientific outcomes are shown for each spiral phase. Each phase is associated with capabilities for space weather that affect our technological society and inform Exploration  activities.  Each spiral promotes development of knowledge that addresses the range of topics necessary to keep the SSSC program in the “sweet spot” of overlapping priorities – to discover, explore, and inform.
Broadly, subsequent spirals target characterization of the variability and extremes of the space environment, validating physical models of elements of the system, and finally forecasting hazards by understanding the system of systems that affect our home planet and the locations to which explorers will travel.   Of course, to some degree these all happen in parallel and they all happen with some level of skill now.
The SSSC program emphasizes development of the physical understanding necessary to enable prediction of the important drivers of space weather throughout the the solar system.  Joint science and exploration of the Earth-Sun System will continue throughout this time interval to address addition questions related to Earth science – climate, weather, atmospheric chemistry, habitability.  Knowledge of our local region of the universe can inform our understanding of other places, similarly, investigation of other star systems will help us understand our own.

## Sun-Solar System Mission Recommendations

- 2005			2015			2025			2035

- Phase 1
- Sun-Earth-Moon System
**Characterization of System**

- Phase 2
- Sun - Terrestrial Planets
**Modeling of System Elements**

- Model
- Systems

- Characterize
- Environments

- Forecast
- Hazards

- Phase 3
- Sun-Solar System
**System Forecasting**

**Solar:**
- SDO, Solar-B
**CMEs & Heliosphere:  **
- SDO, STEREO, IHSentinels, Solar Sail Demo
**Radiation:**
- RBSP, IHSentinels
**Geospace Impacts:  **
- MMS, RBSP, THEMIS, ITSP/ITImager
**Climate Impacts:**
- SDO, AIM
**Moon, Mars Awareness:**
- LRO, MSL, ADAM
**Interstellar Boundary:**  IBEX
**Inner Boundary:**
- Solar Probe

- :**Solar Processes:  **
- MTRAP, RAM** **
**Heliospheric Structure & Disturbances:  **
- HIGO, SPI/Telemachus
**Geospace System Impacts:  **
- AAMP, IMC, ITMC, ITMW
**Solar System Space Weather:  **
- DBC, FS/Shields
**Planetary Orbiters: **
- IoE, SCOPE, NO, TE, VAP
**Interstellar Medium:  **
- Interstellar Probe
**Habitability:**
- Stellar Imager

- Already In Develop-ment or Formulation
- Explorer
- Partnership
- Recommended

**Solar Processes:  **
- Solar Orbiter
**Geospace System Impacts:  **
- GEC, GEMINI, MagCon
**Climate Impacts:  **
- L1 Earth-Sun, SECEP
**Mars Atmosphere:  **
- Mars Atmospheric Reconnaissance Satellite
**Space Weather Stations:  **
- Heliostorm
**Solar System Space Weather:  **
- SEPM, SWBuoys
**Planetary Orbiters: **
- Pluto/Kuiper, JPO/JUNO

- Future Mission Recommendations

**Distributed small assets that form an evolving sensor web to sample the vast connection from the Sun to planetary environments and beyond**

## Sun-Solar System Mission RecommendationsCurrent Constrained Budget Lines

- Optimized program will require more resources ...

*Flagship missions and partnerships:*
*Recommendation:  Obtain additional resources and work with partners to implement these missions*

- New Initiative

- In Development

- Recommended

- Partnership

## Human Capital and Infrastructure

**Science Investigations:**
- Solar Terrestrial Probes (STP)
- Living with a Star (LWS)
- Explorer Program
- Discovery Program
- Sun-Solar System Great Observatory

**Research Programs:**
- Research and Analysis Grants
- Guest Investigator
- Theory Program
- Targeted Research & Technology
- Project Columbia

**Enabling Capabilities:**
- Sounding Rocket/Balloon Program
- Space Environment Testbeds (SET)
- Advanced Technology Program
- Education and Public Outreach

**So that we may develop/maintain U.S. space plasma and space weather prediction / mitigation expertise, it is vital to provide a broad range of competed funding opportunities for the scientific community**

**Develop IT, Computing, Modeling and Analysis Infrastructure**
-  Virtual Observatories
**Low Cost Access to Space**
-  Science, Training, & Instrument Development
**E/PO to Attract Workers to Earth-Sun Systems Science**
**Maintain Multiple Hardware & Modeling Groups**
-  Strengthen University Involvement in Space Hardware Development
-  Facilitate and Exploit Partnerships
-  Interagency and International
**Upgrade DSN to Collect More Data Throughout the Solar System**

**Notes:**
SLIDE DESCRIPTION:  NASA’s goals depend on a strong scientific and technical community to envision, develop and deploy space missions, and to apply results from these missions for the benefit of society.  This community currently exhibits a diverse spectrum of sizes and specialties, based at universities, government facilities, and industrial labs.  It is a world leader in space physics research.  
The continued health of the Sun-Solar System research community, and thereby the support for NASA objectives, is dependent on many factors.  These factors include a robust infrastructure of mission opportunities and resources to enable and maintain research projects; low-cost access to space for science, prototype development, and training; and a strong education and public outreach program to inspire and recruit new scientists and engineers.
Fortunately, much of this supporting infrastructure is in place, with the examples listed on this page ranging from the Solar-Terrestrial Probes Program to computing architectures such as the Columbia supercomputing project.  Nonetheless, our research community faces significant challenges in the immediate future, challenges which directly affect our ability to meet NASA’s goals and support national objectives.  
One challenge is to create a research program that is able to provide the space weather prediction needs of our society and of our NASA explorers on a timetable that will meet requirements.  Another significant challenge is that of training new researchers while maintaining the corporate memory of an experienced work force.  By way of illustration, NASA and its supporting contractors will soon have large portions of its work force eligible for retirement.  By some estimates the services of as much as two-thirds of the most experienced scientists, technicians, and managers could be lost in the near future.

IMAGES: (Left to right, top to bottom)
Living with a Star:   The goals of the Living with a Star program are to understand the physical processes in the Sun-Solar System connection that directly affect life and society. This is a dedicated line of missions that will lead, in the long term, to space weather operational missions and predictive capabilities. 
Solar Terrestrial Probes:   The Solar-Terrestrial Probe Program offers the opportunity to conduct strategically-identified science missions to address one or more of the roadmap research focus areas and thus make significant progress toward fulfulling NASA’s scientific objectives.  By targeting fundamental processes of the coupled Sun-Earth system, such missions result in unexpected new discoveries while solving the scientific problems under study.
Explorer Program:   The Explorer program has long been critical to maintaining the strength of the Sun-Solar System Connection science program. It affords a regularly recurring opportunity to fly small targeted missions, with a relatively short response time, utilizing state-of-the-art instrumentation.   In addition, the program provides the opportunity for participation in missions-of-opportunity provided by other national agencies or international programs. These missions-of-opportunity can provide observations for strategic goals at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated mission.
Sounding Rocket Program:   The Low Cost Access to Space Program provides cutting-edge new science discoveries utilizing state-of-the art instruments in a rapid turn-around responsive environment. Some rocket and balloon investigations do stand-alone science, while some are flown in conjunction with satellite missions and/or ground observations. Although these missions are selected solely on the basis of the importance and probable significance of their science, they play two other important roles that are not available in any other flight programs, 1) the training of experimental space physicists and engineers and 2) instrument testing and development.
Solar Sail:  A number of SSSC missions will study solar system plasmas from unique vantage points. For example, missions have been planned to examine the sun from a polar perspective, and to leave the heliosphere to study the interaction between plasmas in the solar system and the interstellar medium. Propulsion systems that can supply a larger delta-V than conventional rocket engines can carry out such challenging missions. Studies have shown that for the combination of low payload mass and navigation agility, solar sails are an ideal choice.

## External Partnerships

_**Partnership Forums:**_
- International Living With a Star
- International Heliophysical Year
- Enabling Space Weather Predictions for the International Space Environment Service
- National Space Weather Program

**Future Partnership Missions:**
- Solar Orbiter (ESA)

_**National Partners:**_
- National Science Foundation
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Department of Commerce
-  Department of Defense
- Department of Transportation
- Department of Energy
- Department of the Interior

**Current Partnership Missions:**
- Ulysses (ESA)
- SoHO (ESA)
- Cluster (ESA)
- Geotail (JAXA)
- Solar-B (JAXA)

**Notes:**
SLIDE DESCRIPTION: 
 External partnerships complement US efforts and extend the reach of our research on the Sun-Solar System Connection. They amplify and leverage our capabilities and resources. In addition, partnerships with agencies having operational (rather than exploration) responsibilities is essential to an effective division of labor during the operational phases of space exploration, and also provides for technology spinoffs in support of Earth-bound human civilization. 

IMAGES: (top to bottom, left to right) 
International Living With a Star Program:  International Living with a Star is a forum to stimulate, strengthen, and coordinate world space research to understand the governing processes of the connected Sun-Earth System as an integrated entity.  The objective is to stimulate and facilitate:  collaboration among potential partners in solar-terrestrial space missions; synergistic coordination of international research in solar-terrestrial studies, including all relevant data sources as well as theory and modeling; effective and user driven access to all data, results, and value-added products.  Contributions may include any of the following: space flight missions, mission payloads or subsystems; mission launch or tracking services; additional data sources supporting flight missions (sounding rockets, balloon, or ground-based); data dissemination, storage, distribution, and value adding systems; supporting theory and modeling  
International Heliophysical Year( IHY):  IHY is an international program of scientific research to understand external drivers of the space environment and climate.  In 1957 a program of international research, inspired by the International Polar Years of 1882 and 1932, was organized as the International Geophysical Year (IGY) to study global phenomena of the Earth and geospace. Fifty years later, the world's science community will again come together for an international program of scientific collaboration: the International Heliophysical Year (IHY) 2007. This time, research will extend out into the Heliosphere to focus on solar-terrestrial interactions. 
International Space Environment Service:  The International Space Environment Service (ISES) is a permanent service of the Federations of Astronomical and Geophysical Data Analysis Services (FAGS) under the auspices of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) in association with the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG).  ISES was called IUWDS (International URSIgram and World Days Service) until 1996. The IUWDS was formed in 1962 as a combination of the former International World Days Service, initiated in 1959 as part of the IGY, and the former URSI Central Committee of USRIgrams which initiated rapid international data interchange services in 1928.  The mission of the ISES is to encourage and facilitate near-real-time international monitoring and prediction of the space environment by: the rapid exchange of space environment information; the standardization of the methodology for space environment observations and data reduction; the uniform publication of observations and statistics; and the application of standardized space environment products and services to assist users reduce the impact of space weather on activities of human interest.

## Is There Time to Learn Enough?

- Exploration Plan

## SSSC Evolving Great Observatory

## Backup Slides 

## SSSC Roadmap Activities

- NRC update to Space Physics Decadal Survey	Sep. 2004
- Solar Sail technology workshop	Sep. 28-29, 2004
- Roadmap Foundation team meeting #1	Oct. 5-6, 2004
- Advisory Committee review of progress	Nov. 3-5, 2004
- Community-led imaging technology workshop	Nov. 9-10, 2004
**Community-wide roadmap workshop ****	****Nov. 16-17, 2004**
- Roadmap Foundation team meeting #2	Nov. 18-19, 2004
- Finalization of NASA Objective for RM #10	Jan. 2005
- Roadmap Foundation team meeting #3	Jan. 19-21, 2005
- Update to NRC Space Studies Board CSSP	Feb. 8, 2005
**SRM#10 committee meeting #1****	****Feb. 10-11, 2005**
- Half-day bilateral meetings with other US Government agencies	Late Feb/Early March
- Advisory Committee review of progress	February 28-March 2
- SMD International Strategic Conference on Roadmaps 	March 8-10
**SRM #10 committee meeting #2****	****March 15-16**
- Roadmap Foundation team meeting #4	March 16-18
- Advisory Committee review of progress	March 30-April 1
**SRM #10 committee teleconference****	****April 11**
**SRM #10 committee meeting #3, Foundation Team meeting #5****	****May 9-13**
- APIO RM Final Draft	May 22
- SRM #10 review by the National Academy	June 14
- Foundation Roadmap Final Draft	June 24
- Foundation Roadmap review by MOWGS	July-August
- Final publication of Foundation Roadmap	August

- First Foundation Draft

- Second Foundation Draft

- Final APIO Draft

- Final Foundation Draft

## Open the Frontier to Space Weather Prediction

- 2) Understand the plasma processes that accelerate and transport particles throughout the solar system

- 1) Understand magnetic reconnection as revealed in solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and geospace storms

- 3) Understand the role of plasma neutral interactions in nonlinear coupling of regions throughout the solar system

- 4) Understand the creation of variability of magnetic dynamos and how they drive the dynamics of solar, planetary and stellar environments

**Understand the fundamental physical processes of the space environment – from the Sun to Earth, to other planets, and beyond to the interstellar medium**

**Notes:**
SLIDE DESCRIPTION:  This slide provides a further detailed description of the Sun-Solar System Connection Roadmap objective #1:  Opening the Frontier to Space Environment Prediction.
The sun, our solar system and the universe consist primarily of plasma, which results in a rich, complex and interacting set of physical processes.  To predict the behavior of the complex systems that control the environments that explorers will encounter on our return to the moon and journeys to Mars, we must develop a complete understanding of these processes.  A series of four critical steps has been defined that will provide the detailed knowledge base to enable the development of accurate space forecasting methods:
Magnetic Reconnection:  Within the astrophysical science community, the fundamental importance of magnetic reconnection – the rapid conversion of magnetic energy to particle energy, in solar flares, CMEs and geospace storms – is well recognized.  Although we have developed an initial picture of where reconnection occurs and the observable results, the detailed physical mechanisms are not understood.  The Magnetosphere Multi-scale Mission will deliver the fundamental understanding of this universal process in the very different regimes where it occurs.
Particle Acceleration:  Within the solar system many mechanisms, including magnetic reconnection, small-scale waves, shocks and quasi-static electric fields, energize particles to hazardous energies. Because it is the energetic particles in the space environment that have the most direct impact on humans and robotic explorers, a detailed understanding of each of the acceleration processes, the regions in which they operate and the boundary conditions that control them is a critical component on the quest to safeguard the exploration of space.
Nonlinear Coupling:  Equally challenging will be the exploration of the nonlinear physics of energy and momentum coupling in planetary atmospheres.  The upper atmospheres of planets are dramatically affected by energy inputs, including solar radiation, auroral energetic particles, ring current, radiation belts, neutral winds and other inputs. Recommended research will focus on the transfer of energy and momentum via gravity waves, energetic particle effects on atmospheric chemistry, and the coupling between disparate plasma regimes. 
Magnetic Dynamos:  The process which creates magnetic fields – the dynamo problem – remains one of the outstanding problems in theoretical physics. How dynamos operate in such widely different conditions from stellar interiors to planetary cores is very poorly understood. Solving this problem will allow us to better predict and anticipate changes in the magnetic fields at both the Sun and the Earth.
IMAGES (left to right, top to bottom):
Magnetic Loops:  Close up view of magnetic loops emerging through the Sun’s visible surface. Because the magnetic field traps gas, which is heated upwards of one million degrees, the loops shine brightly in extreme Ultraviolet or X-ray radiation. Magnetic reconnection leads to the rapid release of energy stored in these large-scale structures of the coronal magnetic field, an effect thought to give rise to solar flares.
Reconnection at Magnetotail: Illustration of magnetic reconnection in the Earth’s magnetic tail region.  The bright region indicates the intense fluxes of energetic particles that result.
Reconnection at Magnetopause: Illustration of magnetic reconnection at the sunward nose of the Earth’s magnetic shield.  Solar wind plasma is shown breaking through this “crack” in the magnetic shield and subsequently impacting the Earth’s atmosphere
Solar Surface:  Close-up view of the solar surface and a sunspot.  The solar surface consists mostly of an irregular cellular pattern caused by temperature variations in the surface. The cells, called granules, are evidence of convection, the mechanism that transports heat to the surface.
Magnetic Dynamo:  A snapshot of the Earth’s 3D magnetic field structure simulated with the Glatzmaier-Roberts geodynamo model.  Magnetic field lines are blue where the field is directed inward and yellow where directed outward.  Reversals of this field, which occur over a period of about 1000 years, impact climate.
Anomalous cosmic ray formation via Kuiper belt:  Dust in the cosmos may play an important role for producing the most energetic particles known.  Dust grains are produced in vast amounts through collisions of Kuiper Belt objects.  As the dust grains drift in toward the sun, they are bombarded by the solar wind and transformed into ions.  The solar wind sweeps them out and accelerates them to anomalous cosmic ray energies at the edge of the solar system, where they are bounced to and fro by magnetic fields in the solar wind and in the medium beyond the solar system.

## Understand the Nature of our Home in Space

- 1) Understand the causes and subsequent evolution of solar activity that affects Earth’s space climate and environment

- 2) Understand changes in the Earth’s magnetosphere, ionosphere, and upper atmosphere to enable specification, prediction, and mitigation of their effects

- 3) Understand the Sun's role as an energy source to the Earth’s atmosphere, particularly the role of solar variability in driving atmospheric and climate change

- 4) Apply our understanding of space plasma physics to the role of stellar activity and magnetic shielding in planetary system evolution and habitability

**Understand how human society, technological systems, and the habitability of planets are affected by solar variability and planetary magnetic fields**

**Notes:**
SLIDE DESCRIPTION:  This slide provides a further detailed description of the Sun-Solar System Connection Roadmap objective #2:  Understand the Nature of our Home in Space.
We do not live in isolation; we are intimately coupled with the Sun and the space environment through our technological needs, the habitability of planets and solar system bodies we plan to explore, and ultimately the fate of Earth itself.  Variability in this environment affects the daily activities that constitute the underpinning of our society, including communication, navigation, and weather monitoring and prediction.     
This objective attempts to understand our place in the Solar System by investigating the interaction of the space environment with Earth and its impact on us and on our home, either directly or by what can be learned about life on Earth by studying other environments in our solar system and beyond.  As we extend our presence throughout the solar system, we are increasingly interested in the planetary environments awaiting us and how the study of these environments can be applied to our home on Earth.  A casual scan of the solar system is sufficient to note that habitability to life in general, and humankind in particular, is a rare congruence of many events.  At least some of these factors, especially the role of the Sun as a source of energy to planets and the role of magnetic fields in shielding planetary atmospheres, are a subject of immense importance.  We think we understand some of the features that make planets habitable, but we need to understand much more.
Four Research Focus Areas (RFAs) have been defined to understand the creation and evolution of solar disturbances from the Sun to the Earth, the response of the coupled near-Earth environment to these disturbances, the role of the Sun as the principal energy source in our atmosphere (including the impact of long-term solar variability on Earth’s climate), and how stellar activity and magnetic fields affect planetary evolution habitability.   The first attempts to understand the Sun to the degree that we can predict solar variability and the evolution of solar disturbances as they propagate to the Earth.  The second tries to understand the response of the near-Earth plasma regions and their impact on society.  The third addresses the atmospheric responses over short and long time scales.  The fourth places the Earth and planets elsewhere in context, through study of the solar wind impact on other solar system bodies, and of the evolution of solar and stellar activity over the age of planetary systems.
IMAGES (left to right, top to bottom):
False color composite picture of the Sun. The sun is the center object in green.  The area in red is a close-up view of the Sun’s atmosphere (corona) where massive eruptions of electrified gas (plasma) called coronal mass ejections can be seen as white areas moving rapidly away from the Sun.  The blue area is a wide-angle view of the corona.
Electron density enhancements (equatorial arcs) in the Earth’s ionosphere below ~550 km altitude. This is a false color image with each strip representing an orbit cut across the arcs at a fixed local time in the evening. The transport of plasma away from the equator results in  traveling densities enhancements and depletions in bands poleward of the equator. These exist during the daytime and most of the night and create enhanced media transmission errors in navigation and communication signals.
Image of the Earth’s inner magnetosphere:  The plasmasphere is torus of plasma that surrounds and encloses the Earth and is very susceptible to strong electric fields that arise during space storms. Large electric fields cause the outer layers of the plasmasphere to erode away, forming a plume of escaping plasmaspheric material on the dayside of the Earth. The stronger the storm, the stronger the erosion. Clouds over the Ocean:  Hot air expands, and rises; cooled air contracts--gets denser--and sinks; and the ability of the air to hold water depends on its temperature. So, air warmed by ocean currents picks up a lot of moisture.  This image reminds us that the Earth’s climate is intimately coupled to many systems.
Energetic particle precipitation in the atmosphere:  To achieve a thorough understanding of the Earth's middle and upper atmosphere, both natural and man-made influences must be assessed. It is known that naturally occurring precipitating particles are constantly penetrating into the upper atmosphere and at times can have a significant influence on stratospheric, mesospheric, and thermospheric chemistry.
The Solar system’s magnetic shield:   The heliosphere is the immense magnetic bubble containing our solar system, solar wind, and the entire solar magnetic field . It extends well beyond the orbit of Pluto. The heliopause is the name for the blurred boundary between the heliosphere and the interstellar gas outside the solar system. As the solar wind approaches the heliopause, it slows suddenly, forming a shock wave. This solar wind termination shock is exceptionally good at accelerating particles. 
Loss of water products from the Earth into space:  The ion outflow from the Earth’s cleft/cusp region is one of the main contributors of ionospheric ions in the magnetosphere.  Understanding this loss of water products during extreme solar events or changes in the planetary magnetic field will help us understand the fate of our own planet as well as the evolution of other bodies within our solar system.

## Safeguard our Outward Journey

- 1) Characterize the variability and extremes of the space environments that will be encountered by human and robotic explorers

- 2) Develop the capability to predict the origin of solar activity and disturbances associated with potentially hazardous space weather

- 3) Develop the capability to predict the acceleration and propagation of energetic particles in order to enable safe travel for human and robotic explorers

- 4) Understand how space weather affects planetary environments to minimize risk in exploration activities

**Maximize the safety and productivity of human and robotic explorers by developing the capability to predict the extreme and dynamic conditions in space**

## Sun-Solar System Mission RecommendationsOptimized Program

*Flagship missions and partnerships:*
*Recommendation:  Obtain additional resources and work with partners to implement these missions*

- Partnership

- In Development

- New Initiative

- In Development

- Recommended

- Partnership

## Technology Development

**Answering our science questions will sometimes require measurements at unique vantage points, within and outside the solar system**
-  Cost-effective, high-∆V propulsion and deep space power
-  CRM-1: High energy power & propulsion—advanced RTGs
-  CRM-2: In-space transportation—solar sails
-  CRM-15: Nanotechnology—carbon nanotube membranes
- Large area coverage and space-time ambiguity resolution require simultaneous in-situ measurements using clusters & constellations, combined with remote sensing (sensor webs);
-  Compact, affordable instruments & spacecraft; low-power hi-rad electronics
-  CRM-3: Advanced telescopes & observatories
-  Low-cost access to space (secondary payloads; sounding rockets)
-  CRM-10: Transformational spaceport
**Return & ingest large data sets from throughout the solar system**
-  Next-generation or follow on to Deep Space Network
-  CRM-5: Communication and Navigation
**Visualize, analyze and model space plasmas**
-  CRM-13: Advanced modeling/simulation/analysis
**New measurement techniques – compact instrumentation, imagers**
-  Next generation of Sun-Solar System instrumentation
- CRM-3: Advanced telescopes and observatories
- CRM-11: Scientific instruments & sensors
- CRM-15: Nanotechnology

**Notes:**
SLIDE DESCRIPTION:  Innovation is the engine that drives scientific progress.  Scientific success for Sun-Solar System Connection (SSSC) will require technological development in a number of areas.  Future needs are driven by several factors: the requirement to sample space plasmas at multiple points simultaneously (satellite constellations or “sensor webs”),  improvement of measurement resolution and coverage,  high delta-V orbit maneuvers (for example, to escape from the solar system or to enter a polar helio- or geocentric orbit), and the need for innovation within instrumentation, data visualization, communication, and analysis systems. 
.Future SSSC technology needs can be broken down into several focus areas:
1. High delta-V propulsion;
2. Development of compact, low-cost spacecraft and launch systems;
3. Visualization, analysis, and modeling of solar system environments;
4. Designing, building, testing, and validating the next generation of SSSC instrumentation;
5. Returning and assimilating large data sets from throughout the solar system.

IMAGES: (top to bottom, left to right)
Solar Sail:  A number of SSSC missions will study solar system plasmas from unique vantage points. For example, missions have been planned to examine the sun from a polar perspective, and to leave the heliosphere to study the interaction between plasmas in the solar system and the interstellar medium. Propulsion systems that can supply a larger delta-V than conventional rocket engines can carry out such challenging missions. Studies have shown that for the combination of low payload mass and navigation agility, solar sails are an ideal choice.
Micro-spacecraft:  Because of the large scale and complexity of solar system plasmas, future discoveries will depoend on the deployment of clusters, or constellations, of spacecraft making simultaneous multi-point measurements (e.g., Magnetosphere Multi-Scale and Magnetosphere Constellation).  Enabling and enhancing technologies include the development of low mass, power, and volume (MPV) instrumentation as well as low mass, economical spacecraft.
DSN: NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) is evolving to meet the communication and navigation needs of increasingly complex, data-intensive missions.  Analysis of Sun-Solar System Connection roadmap missions suggests that, over the next 25 years, downlink rates will need to increase by a factor of at least 1,000, even from the more distant regions of our solar system.  At the same time, the trend toward multi-spacecraft missions will likely cause a doubling in the number of such links back to Earth.  
Modeling:  One of the most  critically needed technological advances is in the field of advanced supercomputing for model development and innovative new technologies for data analysis and visualization.  Successful examples include NASA's Information Power Grid, an effort to provide large scale, distributed computing resources to the scientific and engineering communities; the Columbia supercomputer, which is providing an order of magnitude increase in NASA's computing capability; and the VisBARD project, for the simultaneous visualization of multiple vector and scalar quantities.
Instrumentation:  Many of the missions needed to pursue future SSSC goals will require the development of new types of scientific instrumentation. New techniques include large focal plane arrays, large scale adaptive optics, true solar-blind energetic particle detectors, and instruments capable of directly measuring plasma neutral interactions (e.g., collision frequencies). The shear strength and impressive electronic properties of carbon nanotubes may lead to the development of stronger, lighter materials and more power efficient ionization sources. The continuing development of conductive polymers and other exotic new materials and coatings may pave the way for the development of solar blind particle detectors, new and better cometary dust analyzers, and miniature mass spectrometer systems.  It is also important to develop and maintain space-quality test facilities, including those capable of simulating the particle and radiation environments encountered during spaceflight missions.  Radiation test facilities will become particularly important as ongoing technological innovations and the push to develop more power efficient instruments results in smaller electronic instrumentation.  For some of these applications, NASA's low-cost access to space (LCAS) program provides an ideal avenue for testing and validation. 
Space Environment Testbeds (SET):  SET is a technology development activity that performs space investigations to produce models, tools, and databases for improving the accommodation or mitigation of space environment and effects due to solar variability on technology used in spacecraft and on the ground. 

## Education and Public Outreach

-  Emphasis on workforce development
-  Requires increase in the capacity of our nation’s education systems (K-16)
-  Entrain under-represented communities in STEM careers (demographic projections to 2025 underscore this need)
**Roadmap committee #10 has focused on:**
-  Close up look at the role national science education standards play in effectively connecting NASA content to formal education
-  Importance of E/PO to achievement of Exploration Vision
-  Identification of unique E/PO opportunities
-  Articulation of challenges and  recommendations for effective E/PO

| Living With a Star |  Study the Sun to learn about stars
 Role of Solar variability in Earth’s climate |
| --- | --- |
| Space Weather for Earth & Exploration |  Analogy with terrestrial weather/climate
 Conditions changing all the time
 Need for situational awareness
 Protecting space explorers |
| Magnetism | Invisible force:  “seeing the invisible”
Magnetism vs gravity; significance of 
   magnetism in Solar System and Universe
Magnetic shields and planetary habitability 
Electromagnetic Spectrum |
| Plasma | State of matter depends on location  |
| Propulsion |  Solar sails for space travel |
| Tools, technology, scientific methods |  Suborbital rockets -it really is rocket science
 Suborbital rockets - opportunity to "go to space"
 Large, high-resolution data sets, powerful images
 Modeling, visualization, simulation key to science |
| Engaging the Public |  Eclipses, Transits,  Auroras
 Solar flares, coronal mass ejections, solar storms |

**Unique E/PO opportunities associated with SSSC science**

**Notes:**
SLIDE DESCRIPTION:
Sun-Earth System E/PO programs share the excitement of science discoveries with the public, enhance the quality of science, mathematics, and technology education, and help create our 21st century scientific and technical workforce.  These efforts align with NASA’s Science Mission Directorate’s education goals and priorities to inspire and motivate students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and to engage the public in shaping and sharing the experience of exploration and discovery.   In addition, E/PO programs has focused on the development of tools for evaluating the quality and impact of Sun-Earth system science education and outreach programs, in order to identify and disseminate best practices in E/PO.  

IMAGE:
An analemma is shown photographed behind the temple at Delphi.  This suggests the immediacy of the Sun’s daily impact on our lives and how subtle variations in our nearest star can lead to deeper understanding of the world in which we live.
An analemma is the figure-8 shape traced out by the Sun over the course of a year. The Sun's apparent shift is caused by the Earth's motion around the Sun when combined with the tilt of the Earth's rotation axis. The Sun will appear at its highest point of the analemma during summer and at its lowest during winter. The analemma shown was built up by Sun photographs taken over a year’s time.