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77–037PDF 2012

NATIONAL PRIORITIES FOR SOLAR AND 

SPACE PHYSICS RESEARCH AND 

APPLICATIONS FOR SPACE WEATHER PREDICTION 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND 

TECHNOLOGY 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012 

Serial No. 112–107 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

HON. RALPH M. HALL, Texas, Chair 

F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., 

Wisconsin 

LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland 

FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma 

JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois 

W. TODD AKIN, Missouri 

RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

PAUL C. BROUN, Georgia 

SANDY ADAMS, Florida 

BENJAMIN QUAYLE, Arizona 

CHARLES J. ‘‘CHUCK’’ FLEISCHMANN, 

Tennessee 

E. SCOTT RIGELL, Virginia 

STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

ANDY HARRIS, Maryland 

RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois 

CHIP CRAVAACK, Minnesota 

LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana 

DAN BENISHEK, Michigan 

VACANCY 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 

JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois 

LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

BRAD MILLER, North Carolina 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland 

BEN R. LUJA ́ N, New Mexico 

PAUL D. TONKO, New York 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

TERRI A. SEWELL, Alabama 

FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida 

HANSEN CLARKE, Michigan 

SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon 

VACANCY 

VACANCY 

VACANCY 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS

HON. STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi, Chair 

F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER JR., 

Wisconsin 

LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma 

W. TODD AKIN, Missouri 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

SANDY ADAMS, Florida 

E. SCOTT RIGELL, Virginia 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

RALPH M. HALL, Texas 

JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois 

TERRI A. SEWELL, Alabama 

DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland 

FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida 

HANSEN CLARKE, Michigan 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Wednesday, November 28, 2012 

Page 

Witness List ............................................................................................................. 2 

Hearing Charter ...................................................................................................... 3 

Opening Statements 

Statement by Representative Steven M. Palazzo, Chair, Subcommittee on 

Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. 

House of Representatives .................................................................................... 15 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 16 

Statement by Representative Donna F. Edwards, Acting Ranking Minority 

Member, Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science, 

Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives .................................... 17 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 17 

Witnesses: 

Dr. Daniel Baker, Director, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics 

and Professor, Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado 

at Boulder; Chair, Decadal Survey in Solar and Space Physics, National 

Research Council 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 19 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 21 

Mr. Charles J. Gay, Deputy Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 21 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 47 

Ms. Laura Furgione, Acting Assistant Administrator for Weather Services 

and Acting Director, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 55 

Written Statement ............................................................................................ 57 

Appendix I: Answers to Post-Hearing Questions 

Dr. Daniel Baker, Director, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics 

and Professor, Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado 

at Boulder; Chair, Decadal Survey in Solar and Space Physics, National 

Research Council .................................................................................................. 74 

Mr. Charles J. Gay, Deputy Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration .................................. 86 

Ms. Laura Furgione, Acting Assistant Administrator for Weather Services 

and Acting Director, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ................................................................................... 90 

(1) 

NATIONAL PRIORITIES FOR SOLAR AND 

SPACE PHYSICS RESEARCH AND 

APPLICATIONS FOR SPACE WEATHER 

PREDICTION 

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS, 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY, 

Washington, D.C. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:03 a.m., in Room 

2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Steven Palazzo 

[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding. 
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The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:03 a.m., in Room 

2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Steven Palazzo 

[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding. 

Chairman PALAZZO. The Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics 

will come to order. 

Good morning, and welcome to today’s hearing entitled ‘‘National 

Priorities for Solar and Space Physics Research and Applications 

for Space Weather Prediction.’’ In front of you are packets containing the written testimony, biographies and Truth in Testimony 

disclosures for today’s witness panel. I recognize myself for five 

minutes for an opening statement. 

I would like to begin by thanking our witnesses for taking time 

from their busy schedules to appear before us this morning to examine the National Research Council’s recommendations for the 

U.S. solar and space physics research program and applications for 

space weather prediction. I realize you and your staff devoted considerable time and effort preparing for this hearing, and we appreciate your expertise as we consider these issues in the upcoming 

session of Congress. 

Unfortunately, our Ranking Member was unable to join us today, 

but before getting started, I did want to extend my warm wishes 

to Subcommittee Ranking Member Jerry Costello, who is retiring 

at the end of this Congress. He has been a genuine pleasure to 

work with, and in the brief time we have served together, I have 

come to admire his deep knowledge about this institution, NASA, 

his deep insight into the FAA, and his sense of grace. He has been 

a steady voice of reason, and I believe we will all miss him. 

Our hearing today will focus on the incredible work being accomplished by NASA’s Heliophysics Division and on the important 

operational aspect this research has for space weather prediction at 

NOAA. NASA has developed and launched a broad network of 

spacecraft that allows researchers to better understand the EarthSun system. Their findings are used daily to help preserve our 

technological infrastructure by allowing system operators to better 

react to variations of the Sun. Building our knowledge in this field 

is essential for maintaining our way of life on Earth as well as for 

improving the capability of enabling human exploration beyond the 

protection of Earth’s atmosphere and magnetosphere. Together 

with a ground-based infrastructure of solar telescopes managed by 

the National Science Foundation, NASA and NOAA coordinate critical measurements into useable models that predict how space 

weather will affect our satellites, electric power grid, airline operators, and more. The Space Weather Prediction Center, operated by 

NOAA’s National Weather Service, provides real-time monitoring 

and forecasting of solar and geophysical events and is continuously 

exploring new models and products to transition to operations. 

Today’s hearing will examine the requirements for a robust 

space-based solar and space physics research program and discuss 

the application of this research for an operational space weather 

program. The baseline assessment in this examination will be the 

set of recommendations outlined by the National Research Council’s Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society 

decadal survey. Notably, the survey committee acknowledged the 

prospect of limited budgets and therefore recommended NASA stay 
16 

the course on major programs under development, specifically for 

Solar Probe Plus. The survey committee further recommended that 

NASA utilize its current resources most effectively by focusing resources on those activities that will DRIVE; or Diversify, Realize, 

Integrate, Venture Educate, the next generation of solar and space 

physics research. The survey committee also provides specific recommendations for our Nation’s space weather enterprise and provides detailed recommendations to NASA, NSF and NOAA on how 

to best accomplish a robust space weather and climatology program 

for the future. 

As we enter into the next solar maximum—an 11-year solar cycle 

that is marked by increased solar activity—the availability of solar 

wind measurements in particular are essential for maintaining our 

way of life. As has been stated countless times over the last several 

years, however, we face a tough budget environment. In order to 

continue a robust solar and space physics program, a prudent and 

careful examination of the core capabilities and essential services 

this country needs is first and foremost on our agenda. 

I look forward to today’s discussion, and wish to again thank our 

witnesses for their presence. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Palazzo follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SUBCOMMITTEE CHAIRMAN STEVEN M. PALAZZO

I would like to begin by thanking our witnesses for taking time from their busy 

schedules to appear before us this morning to examine the National Research Council’s recommendations for the U.S. solar and space physics research program and applications for space weather prediction. I realize you and your staff devoted considerable time and effort preparing for this hearing and we appreciate your expertise 

as we consider these issues in the upcoming session of Congress. 

Our hearing today will focus on the incredible work being accomplished by 

NASA’s Heliophysics Division and on the important operational aspect this research 

has for space weather prediction at NOAA. NASA has developed and launched a 

broad network of spacecraft that allow researchers to better understand the EarthSun system. Their findings are used daily to help preserve our technological infrastructure by allowing system operators to better react to variations of the Sun. 

Building our knowledge in this field is essential for maintaining our way of life on 

Earth as well as for the improving the capability of enabling human exploration beyond the protection of Earth’s atmosphere and magnetosphere. 

Together with a ground-based infrastructure of solar telescopes managed by the 

National Science Foundation, NASA and NOAA coordinate critical measurements 

into useable models that predict how space weather will affect our satellites, electric 

power grid, airline operators, and more. The Space Weather Prediction Center operated by NOAA’s National Weather Service, provides real-time monitoring and forecasting of solar and geophysical events and is continuously exploring new models 

and products to transition to operations. 

Today’s hearing will examine the requirements for a robust space-based solar and 

space physics research program and discuss the application of this research for an 

operational space weather program. The baseline assessment in this examination 

will be the set of recommendations outlined by the National Research Council’s 

Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society decadal survey. Notably, the survey committee acknowledged the prospect of limited budgets and therefore recommended NASA ‘‘stay the course’’ on major programs under development— 

specifically for Solar Probe Plus. The survey committee further recommended that 

NASA utilize its current resources most effectively by focusing resources on those 

activities that will ‘‘DRIVE—or Diversify, Realize, Integrate, Venture, Educate’’ the 

next generation of solar and space physics research. 

The survey committee also provides specific recommendations for our nation’s 

space weather enterprise and provides detailed recommendations to NASA, NSF 

and NOAA on how to best accomplish a robust space weather and climatology program for the future. 
17 

As we enter into the next solar maximum—an 11 year solar cycle that is marked 

by increased solar activity—the availability of solar wind measurements in particular are essential for maintaining our way of life. As has been stated countless 

times over the last several years, however, we face a tough budget environment. In 

order to continue a robust solar and space physics program, a prudent and careful 

examination of the core capabilities and essential services this country needs is first 

and foremost on our agenda. 

I look forward to today’s discussion, and wish to again thank our witnesses for 

their presence. 

Chairman PALAZZO. At this time I now recognize Ms. Edwards 

for an opening statement. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you Chairman Palazzo, and thank you for 

your gracious comments about Ranking Member Jerry Costello. I 

know he regrets not being here, and like you, I too have learned 

both from his graciousness but also from his work ethic. 

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate your holding this hearing today to 

examine the recommendations for the Nation’s solar and space 

physics research program and the benefits of this research for 

space weather prediction. 

A little more than a week ago, the Sun had two solar events, in 

this case prominence eruptions, over a 4-hour time span. NASA’s 

Solar Dynamic Observatory spacecraft captured the activity, and 

while the event would not affect Earth, this and other solar events 

days earlier led to alerts of potential high-frequency radio communication blackouts and weak power grid fluctuations. 

Because solar events such as these can have marked impacts on 

ground- and space-based technological systems and services, such 

as GPS-related services, communications, aviation, the electric 

power grid, and pipelines, the Nation’s basic research programs 

have a direct bearing on protecting our Nation’s critical infrastructure. 

In August 2012, the National Academies released its decadal survey, ‘‘Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society.’’ The recommendations provided independent, external input 

on the priorities and plans for space and ground-based solar and 

space physics research activities over the next decade, and on the 

applications of the research to space weather prediction. 

So, I am pleased to hear from our witnesses today on the decadal 

survey recommendations, the current activities and future plans for 

the NASA program, and the operational activities related to space 

weather prediction. And Mr. Chairman, I would be remiss if I 

didn’t mention the budgetary challenges for this research. In a 

crunch budget environment, there are significant implications for 

our society if we don’t continue and expand research in this area. 

We need to protect these R&D investments. Our assets, our quality 

of life and our economic strength as a Nation depend on the research. 

Thank you and I yield back the balance of my time. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Edwards follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ACTING RANKING MINORITY MEMBER DONNA F. EDWARDS

Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding today’s hearing to examine the recommendations for the nation’s solar and space physics research program and the benefits of 

this research for space weather prediction. 

A little more than a week ago, the Sun had two solar events-in this case ‘‘prominence eruptions’’—over a four-hour time span. NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory 
18 

(SDO) spacecraft captured the activity, and while the event would not affect Earth, 

this and other solar events days earlier led to alerts of potential high frequency 

radio communication blackouts and weak power grid fluctuations. 

Because solar events such as these can have marked impacts on ground- and 

space-based technological systems and services, such as GPS-related services, communications, aviation, the electric power grid, and pipelines—the Nation’s basic research programs have a direct bearing on protecting our nation’s critical infrastructure. 

In August 2012, the National Academies released its decadal survey, ‘‘Solar and 

Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society.’’ 

The recommendations provide independent, external input on the priorities and 

plans for space- and ground-based solar and space physics research activities over 

the next decade, and on the applications of the research to space weather prediction. 

So, I’m pleased to hear from our witnesses today on the decadal survey recommendations, the current activities and future plans for the NASA program, and 

the operational activities related to space weather prediction. 

Mr. Chairman, I would be remiss if I did not mention the budgetary challenges 

for this research, which has such significant implications for our society. 

We need to protect these R&D investments. Our assets, our quality of life, and 

our economic strength as a nation depend on this research. 

Thank you and I yield back the balance of my time. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, Ms. Edwards. 

If there are Members who wish to submit additional opening 

statements, your statements will be added to the record at this 

point. 

At this time I would like to introduce our panel and then we will 

proceed to hear from each of them in order. 

Our first witness is Dr. Daniel Baker. Dr. Baker is Director of 

the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of 

Colorado at Boulder, and is Professor of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences and Professor of Physics there. He currently is Lead 

Investigator on several NASA space missions including the Messenger mission to Mercury, the Magnetosphere Multiscale mission, 

and the NASA Radiation Belt Storm mission. He was a member of 

the 2006 decadal review of the U.S. National Space Weather Program and recently chaired the National Research Council’s 2013 to 

2022 decadal survey in solar and space physics. 

Our next witness is Mr. Charles Gay, the Deputy Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration. Mr. Gay has served NASA 

in senior management positions for many years including Deputy 

Director of the Office of Systems Safety and Mission Assurance at 

Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Deputy Director of the 

Heliophysics Division at NASA headquarters. In addition to his experience at NASA, Mr. Gay has over 20 years of experience in the 

aerospace industry. Mr. Gay received a B.S. in civil engineering 

and an M.S. in structural engineering from the University of Maryland. 

Our final witness is Ms. Laura Furgione, who serves as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Acting Assistant 

Administrator for Weather Services and Acting Director of the National Weather Service. In this role, she is responsible for the dayto-day civilian weather operations for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas. Ms. Furgione has served 

NOAA in a variety of roles over her career including the Deputy 

Director of NWS and as Assistant Administrator for the NOAA Office of Program Planning and Integration. Ms. Furgione holds a 

bachelor of science degree in Atmospheric Science from the Univer-
19 

sity of Missouri-Columbia and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Alaska Southeast. 

Welcome, everyone. And as our witnesses should know, spoken 

testimony is limited to five minutes each. After all witnesses have 

spoken, Members of the Committee will have five minutes each to 

ask questions. 

I now recognize our first witness, Dr. Daniel Baker, for five minutes to present his testimony. 

STATEMENT OF DR. DANIEL BAKER, DIRECTOR, 

LABORATORY FOR ATMOSPHERIC AND 

SPACE PHYSICS, AND PROFESSOR, 

ASTROPHYSICAL AND PLANETARY SCIENCES, 

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER, 

AND CHAIR, DECADAL SURVEY IN SOLAR 

AND SPACE PHYSICS, NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 

Dr. BAKER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Representative Edwards. Thank you for the opportunity to testify 

today. My name, as said, is Daniel Baker. I am at the University 

of Colorado. It was my privilege to chair the National Research 

Council’s Committee for a Decadal Strategy for Solar and Space 

Physics, or heliophysics, as it is referred to at NASA. 

Our study was requested by NASA and the National Science 

Foundation and was carried out with the full cooperation of these 

agencies and with NOAA. The study is national in scope, and its 

recommendations are directed to all relevant agencies engaged in 

solar and space physics research and applications. I believe that 

implementation of the survey committee’s recommended programs 

will ensure the United States maintains its leadership in space 

physics and will lead to significant, even transformative advances 

in scientific understanding and operational capabilities. 

Space physics research provides new observations and scientific 

knowledge about the Sun and how it interacts with the planets and 

with the local reaches of our galaxy. Of most importance to society, 

solar and space physics research observations and modeling lets us 

understand the origins and consequences of the Sun’s interactions 

with the Earth and what we refer to as space weather. 

Our report is one that is responsive to both of these drivers, the 

necessity to be innovative in the science field with multi-agency, 

multi-scale observations and theoretical tools, and a community 

that seeks to add value to a Nation that is increasingly vulnerable 

to space weather effects. 

The decadal survey committee’s recommendations are also responsive to budgetary constraints. Recognizing the importance of 

crafting a resilient program in uncertain budgetary times, the survey report includes decision rules to guide programmatic changes 

should they become necessary. 

NASA’s existing heliophysics flight missions and NSF’s groundbased facilities form a network of observing platforms that operate 

simultaneously to investigate the entire solar system. The survey’s 

first priority is to complete the ongoing program, to support this 

ongoing existing program and complete missions and programs in 

development. 
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Our second-highest priority is to implement a new, integrated, 

multi-agency initiative, which we call D–R–I–V–E, as was said, 

DRIVE, encompasses specific cost-effective augmentations to NASA 

and NSF’s space physics programs. DRIVE will bring existing enabling programs to full fruition through innovative, targeted programs and will also support larger-scale activities recommended for 

later in the decade. Its components are described more thoroughly 

in my written testimony. 

Our third priority is for NASA to accelerate and expand the 

Heliophysics Explorer program. Explorer-class missions have an 

outstanding record of delivering scientific results of great consequence in a timely and cost-effective manner. 

The fourth priority is that the committee also recommends that 

NASA’s Solar-Terrestrial Probes program should be restructured as 

a moderate-sized competed principal investigator-led mission line 

that is cost-capped at $520 million per mission, full lifecycle cost. 

The first recommended new solar-terrestrial probe reference target, 

IMAP, is to capitalize on Voyager observations to understand the 

outer heliosphere and its interactions with the inner stellar medium. Certain landmark scientific problems are of such scope and 

complexity, they can only be addressed with major missions. In our 

survey committee plan, major heliophysics missions would be implemented within NASA’s Living With a Star (LWS) program. The 

survey committee recommends that they continue to be managed 

and executed by NASA centers. 

As this Committee knows full well, multiple agencies in the Federal Government have vital interests related to space weather. Our 

committee is concerned about the degree of coordination between 

these agencies and the ad hoc nature of partnerships and the limited nature of resources. For reasons detailed in our report, our 

committee believes the first necessary but insufficient step is to recharter the existing space weather coordinating body, the National 

Space Weather Program, under the auspices of the National 

Science and Technology Council. Rechartering in this way may improve interagency coordination but longer-term, additional resources will be necessary to ensure continuing availability of the 

requisite measurements. NASA research satellites such as ACE, 

SOHO, STEREO, SDO, which are designed for scientific studies, 

provide critical measurements essentially for specifying and forecasting space environment systems. However, NASA has neither 

the mandate nor the budget to sustain these measurements into 

the future. 

In the survey report, the committee articulates a vision for an 

enhanced national commitment by partnering agencies—NOAA, 

NASA, NSF, USGS, other agencies—for continued measurements 

of critical space environment parameters. In this partnership, we 

see NASA utilizing its unique space-based capabilities as the basis 

for a new program that provides sustained monitoring of key space 

environment observables. 

Thank you again for the opportunity to bring these issues from 

the NRC decadal survey to your attention. I look forward to your 

questions. Thank you very much. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Baker follows:] 
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Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, Dr. Baker. 

I now recognize our next witness, Mr. Charles Gay, for five minutes to present his testimony. 

STATEMENT OF MR. CHARLES J. GAY, 

DEPUTY ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR, 

SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE, 

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION 

Mr. GAY. Thank you. Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss NASA’s 

heliophysics program, and in particular, NASA’s response to the 

heliophysics decadal survey released in August of 2012. 

NASA’s heliophysics program studies, the Sun, the Earth’s nearspace environment and the heliosphere, the region created by the 

solar wind that forms the boundary of our solar system. By studying this interconnected system, NASA provides understanding of 

the fundamental space processes that occur throughout the university and drive our connected Sun-Earth system. 

NASA currently operates 18 heliophysics missions that can be 

thought of as a single observatory: the Heliophysics System Observatory, or HSO. The HSO has produced a number of scientific 

discoveries over the last year alone. Voyager has taken us to the 

edge of the solar system, and many believe they will leave the solar 

system and reach interstellar space within the next decade. The 

twin STEREO spacecraft have allowed us to view space weather 

events throughout the solar system, and the recently launched Van 

Allen probes are already making new discoveries about Earth’s radiation belts. 

In addition, NASA continues to develop important new missions 

to support the Heliophysics Research program: the IRIS explorer 

mission, launching next spring, the Magnetosphere Multiscale Mission, launching in 2015, the Solar Orbiter, a collaboration with European Space Agency, planned for launch in 2017, and Solar Probe 

Plus in 2018. 

NASA is pleased to receive the heliophysics decadal survey and 

plans to work towards accomplishing the recommendations for our 

science program. As its top priority, the survey endorses NASA’s 

current program of missions in development. The second priority is 

the DRIVE initiative that Dr. Baker mentioned. Its goal is to optimize the scientific return of current and future missions by establishing a healthy research environment and to also enable future 

missions through technology enhancements. 

The next priority is the acceleration and expansion of the 

Heliophysics Explorer program. The Explorer program has a long 

history of returning focused, cutting-edge science and providing tremendous value to this Nation. The decadal committee recognized 

that we are operating in times of flat budgets and understood that 

the modest increases for DRIVE and Explorer would be achieved 

through a gradual rebalance of this portfolio. 

The survey then prioritized the science targets for four recommended missions in the Solar Terrestrial Probes program and 

the Living With a Star program. NASA appreciates the flexible nature of this recommendation. By providing science targets and leaving the detailed implementation to NASA, we can ensure that 
46 

these missions are guided by the latest science and enabled by the 

latest technologies. Furthermore, the decision rules embedded 

within the survey will allow us to ensure that the highest priorities 

will be addressed. 

In addition to the heliophysics science recommendations, the survey also made recommendations related to space weather applications that are addressed collectively to the relevant government 

agencies. NASA recognizes the importance of the recommendations 

and will continue collaborating with other agencies. However, as 

the survey acknowledges, these separate space weather recommendations are above and beyond current funding resources. 

NASA and NOAA currently work together and with other government agencies on satellite development, operations, data processing, and modeling to inform space weather predictions. NASA 

performs research that leads to improved space weather prediction 

models and works with NOAA to transition these research results 

to operations. NASA has also committed to supporting its part of 

the National Space Weather program, a federal interagency initiative established to improve coordination on space weather activities. 

I would like to express my appreciation to the survey Chairs, Dr. 

Dan Baker and Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, and to the many volunteers and staff who worked tirelessly to develop this decadal survey. They have provided an effective guide for NASA to pursue the 

highest-priority science in heliophysics over the next decade. 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I appreciate 

your support of NASA’s heliophysics program and the opportunity 

to appear here today. I would be pleased to respond to your questions. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Gay follows:] 
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Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, Mr. Gay. 

I now recognize our final witness, Ms. Laura Furgione, for five 

minutes to present her testimony. 

STATEMENT OF MS. LAURA FURGIONE, 

ACTING ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR 

FOR WEATHER SERVICES, 

AND ACTING DIRECTOR, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, 

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION 

Ms. FURGIONE. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Members of 

the Committee. My name is Laura Furgione, and I am the Acting 

Director of the National Weather Service in NOAA. Thank you for 

the opportunity to testify today about space weather. 

While probably best known for our role in hurricane, tsunami, 

flood and tornado forecasts and warnings, NOAA also has operational responsibilities for space weather forecasts and warnings. 

NOAA is the U.S. government’s official and definitive source of civilian space weather forecasts, warnings and alerts for the general 

public, industry and government agencies. The NOAA Space 

Weather Prediction Center, commonly called SWPC, operates 24 

hours a day, providing real-time forecasts and warnings of solar 

and geophysical events to a society that is increasing its reliance 

on technology vulnerable to the impacts from space weather. 

Recognizing the importance of 24/7 forecasts and warnings, in 

2005, NOAA transferred its space weather prediction program from 

an applied research environment to our operational environment. 

NOAA geostationary spacecraft provide critical observations of 

solar and geophysical events for NOAA’s space weather forecasts 

used by thousands of customers worldwide including the Department of Defense, NASA, satellite companies and airlines, as you 

said. In fact, 80 percent of the DOD space weather alerts and 

warnings rely on GOES data. Currently, NOAA polar satellites include the space environment monitor, which is a suite of instruments that measure energetic particles in the lower Earth orbit 

which may impact communications, satellite operations, radar systems, and the International Space Station. SWPC also uses data 

from the NASA Advanced Composition Explorer, or ACE satellite, 

to issue warnings on geomagnetic storms. ACE was launched in 

1997 with a two-year design life and as a single point of failure for 

these critical measurements. SWPC also relies on the chronograph 

data from the Solar and Heliophysics Observatory and the SolarTerrestrial Relations Observatory Missions to see coronal mass 

ejections, or CMEs, that erupt from the Sun, allowing NOAA to 

issue geomagnetic storm watches, which provide 1- to 3-day advance notice of a geomagnetic storm. 

There are extensive interagency interactions and planning already underway to ensure continuity of solar wind data and CME 

detection. NOAA is working with NASA to refurbish the Deep 

Space Climate Observatory, or the DSCOVR spacecraft, to provide 

space weather measurements from the L1 position, which is between the Sun and the Earth, about a million miles upstream. 

Data from this location provide 1 hour of warning for a geomagnetic storm that will impact the Earth affecting the electric 

power grid, satellites, GPS, radio communications and other sys-
56 

tems, as mentioned. NOAA and the Air Force have been appropriated funding to refurbish, launch and operate the DSCOVR satellite to provide continuity of solar wind measurements as well as 

CME. NOAA is also working to incorporate cutting-edge technology 

under development at NASA. NOAA will continue interagency and 

international partnerships as well as the use of commercial services to meet these data requirements. 

SWPC maintains a close working relationship with its user community and adjusts its products and services to meet the growing 

and changing needs of these customers. Through this interaction, 

NOAA identifies operational data requirements and space weather 

model requirements, which are made available to NASA, NSF and 

the broader research community. NOAA transitioned this research 

into operations as efficiently and effectively as possible. 

In 2011, NOAA successfully transitioned the first-ever physicsbased space weather prediction model into operational use. This 

model was largely developed by NSF and transitioned into research 

into operations from NASA. This model helps forecasters understand when an eruption on the Sun may impact the Earth and result in a geomagnetic storm. 

The NRC decadal survey report emphasizes the importance of 

space weather for society and therefore the value of work conducted by NOAA to provide services that protect life, property and 

enhance the economy. This report sets dates for NOAA to continue 

fulfilling its critical leadership role in space weather operations and 

applying forecasts and services to the benefit of society. As the 

agency responsible for integrating research into operations, NOAA 

looks forward to working with our federal partners to ensure the 

latest successful research is available and to be transitioned. 

The report states, ‘‘It is critical that we develop predictive capabilities for space weather events while maintaining comprehensive 

measurements for now casting solar wind, energetic particle inputs 

into geospace.’’ We must ensure operational needs continue to be 

met. The report also discusses distribution of essential operational 

data. NOAA believes that as the operational agency, it should continue to distribute these observations. 

Our Nation remains vulnerable to space weather and needs more 

timely and accurate forecasts to help mitigate the potential impacts. The NRC report is an excellent first step and identifies critical research activities that are necessary to expand our comprehensive understanding of space weather as well as improve our 

Nation’s forecast and warning capability. The Nation requires ongoing research and development that will inform operations. As 

such, NASA, NSF and the academic community conduct important 

research and development activities that NOAA can access for its 

operations. The NRC report has provided critical insight into the 

areas that the larger space weather community and the agencies 

will continue to assess in the years to come. 

Thank you very much for your time and the opportunity to comment today. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Furgione follows:] 
57 
58 
59 
60 
61 
62 

Chairman PALAZZO. I thank the panel for their testimony. I now 

recognize myself for five minutes for questions. 

Mr. Gay, given the emphasis the survey committee places on 

maintaining NASA’s current portfolio of missions, can you provide 

us a quick status update on the missions currently in development, 

particularly the Solar Probe Plus, and what are the greatest risks 

to cost and schedule at this point in time and how does the current 

Continuing Resolution impact NASA’s ability to keep these missions on track? So about three questions in one. 

Mr. GAY. Yes, sir. The quick status of the missions in development, and I mentioned most of them earlier in the oral testimony, 

the IRIS Explorer mission is on track for a launch in early 2013. 

The next large mission is the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission 

on track for launch in 2015, and it is well into development. Basically, we are putting that spacecraft together right now at the Goddard Space Flight Center, and it is undergoing environmental testing very shortly for launch in 2015. The Solar Probe Plus mission 

is in what we call phase B. It is in its formulation phase. We are 

doing technology work. We are doing preparations for the critical— 

the preliminary and the critical design reviews. There are technical 

challenges there associated with that mission as it is going to come 

within 9–1/2 solar radii of the Sun so the thermal control systems 

are one of the greatest challenges there. The spacecraft exterior 

surfaces will see temperatures in excess of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit while the electronics will operate at room temperature. The 

applied physics lab is responsible for implementing that mission, 

and they have—they are also the organization that successfully 

launched and operated the Messenger mission to Mercury. So they 

are used to those hot environments, so we are very optimistic that 

they have got the thermal control system, you know, well understood here. 

The risks to cost and schedule, we are still in the formulation 

phase for in particular Solar Probe Plus and it has not been confirmed yet where NASA goes through all of the joint conference 

level cost estimates and independent cost estimates and determines 

the costs that it will take to implement this mission. That will 

occur in, I believe, toward the end of 2013, toward the end of next 

year where we will have that commitment date, and so the risks 

there are getting through the technology hurdles for the thermal 

control subsystem solar rays, which are—in this case, they have to 

be liquid cooled. So those are the things we are watching very 

closely. 

In terms of the effect of the CR, right now we are operating 

under the 2012 funding levels. Fortunately for heliophysics, that is 

annualized. When you annualize that, that is really close to the fiscal year 2013 President’s budget. So we don’t anticipate any problems, at least for the next six months in the heliophysics organization, maintaining its mission on track. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Well, thank you, Mr. Gay. 

Ms. Furgione, the ACE satellite was launched in 1997 and is currently operating well beyond its planned two-year lifetime while 

DSCOVR is scheduled to launch in 2014 and is designed for only 

two years mission life. How does NOAA plan to sustain critical 

space weather measurements after 2016? 
63 

Ms. FURGIONE. Thank you for that question, Mr. Chairman. We 

already have begun the evaluation of best value operations for continuing NOAA requirements for solar winds and even the initiation 

of operational CME imagery for the post-DSCOVR era. This will include the role of government agencies as well as the commercial 

sector and what they could contribute to that post-DSCOVR era. 

Chairman PALAZZO. My next question is for all the witnesses. 

What recommendations do you have to ensure that the Nation 

maintains continuous space weather measurements and how do we 

ensure that these measurements do not end up as the next Landsat 

such that everyone wants the data but no one could afford to pay 

for the next satellite? Who would like to take that one first? You 

can rock, paper, scissors for it. 

Ms. FURGIONE. I can at least start with your question, Mr. Chairman. One critical component is for the entire space weather enterprise to work together on this and make sure that the government 

agencies, the commercial sector and also our international partners 

are a part of this continuous of our space weather—continuous 

space weather measurements. So that is critical to make sure that 

we continue communicating across the agencies and with our partners, and the international community has really stepped up so we 

have some good partnerships there as well. 

Mr. GAY. I would add a couple things. One, I think the value that 

NASA brings is to better understand the fundamental physical 

processes involved in the way the Sun behaves and the interaction 

of the Sun with our environment, and the better we understand 

that phenomenon, the better poised we are to understand space 

weather, understand—and better able to model and predict. Along 

the lines of maintaining measurements, heliophysics has a large 

portfolio of operating missions, 18 currently, and we look at those 

missions not just as individual phenomena, but look at those missions as they contribute to the broader understanding of the environment, of the space environment, and we have recognized the 

value in that, and for that reason, we are—as long as these missions are producing valuable scientific information, we want to 

keep them operating and we have budgeted accordingly. We go 

through a comprehensive senior review process every two years to 

look at the operating missions and assess how they are performing, 

their state of operation, if there is any degradation, are they still 

contributing to the greater good, and as long as that is true, we are 

going to keep those spacecraft flying. 

Dr. BAKER. And thank you very much for your question. It indicates a sensitivity that I think is very important, and the steering 

committee for the NRC study was very concerned about your very 

question, and I think it is crucial that the next steps that we recommended there be taken to look at the posture of the Nation with 

respect to key observations, modeling tools and so forth that are 

necessary for an effective 24/7 space weather program into the future. I think it is going to require coordination between the many 

agencies that are interested in this theme and it is going to take 

a much more focused effort at high policy levels to assure that we 

don’t have gaps, that we don’t have failures to observe the Sun and 

its effects on the Earth. So this is one of the key things that needs 

to follow on the decadal survey, in my opinion. 
64 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you all. 

I now recognize Ms. Edwards. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our 

witnesses. 

Mr. Gay, given the uncertainties and the stresses of the current 

budgetary environment, how is NASA planning to leverage the recommendations in the current survey, and in particular, I was looking at the recommendation around an expanded role for NASA in 

the post-DSCOVR environment. So if you could respond to that, I 

would appreciate it. 

Mr. GAY. Yes. In terms of the budget stress, fortunately, the 

decadal committee recognized the environment that we are operating in and the possibility or likelihood of budget stress, and because of that, they did give us some, I think, very good guidance 

in terms of decision rules of what to do if we are faced with the 

problems as we work towards implementing the recommendations 

of the decadal survey, and we do appreciate that very much. They 

also recognized when they recommended augmentations for Explorer and also for the DRIVE initiative, they recognized that the 

heliophysics program has a lot in the pipeline right now and those 

changes, or those enhancements or augmentations would not be realized until sometime downstream when we can rebalance the portfolio gradually. 

In terms of the expanded role for space weather, as the survey 

committee pointed out, the recommendations for an augmented 

space weather capability were beyond our current scope and funding and also were considered a lower priority than the science program recommendations that they made. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Just out of curiosity, though, is the next budget 

submission intended to incorporate the decadal survey recommendations, even if that is over some period of time? 

Mr. GAY. Yes, I believe, beginning in the 2015 budget request, 

we would begin to see some maybe slight rebalancing but, I mean, 

our goal would be to achieve that over the next five to ten years. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Dr. Baker? 

Dr. BAKER. Yeah, I would just like to point out that one of the 

things we did in the decadal survey was to recommend the IMAP 

mission. This is the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, 

and this has dual use. It is both a wonderful basic science mission 

to observe the outer part of the heliosphere but it also would make 

key solar wind measurements, solar wind measurements that 

would be a space weather monitoring kind of a tool, so I think 

there is a great deal we can do to have both basic science and operational capability, and this is just one example of the dual use kind 

of capabilities we talked about. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you. 

Ms. Furgione, I am sorry. I mispronounced your name. Ms. 

Furgione, I wonder if you could tell me about the accuracy of predicting space weather events, because it does seem to me that 

those are increasingly important in terms of our operation of our 

critical infrastructure, and in fact every day because we have more 

infrastructure that is impacted potentially by space weather, and 

so how good are the—is the current prediction capability and what 
65 

kinds of improvements can we expect to gain with the implementation of the research recommended in the survey? 

Ms. FURGIONE. Thank you, Ms. Edwards. That is one of the components of our operational forecasting scheme is to always validate 

and verify our forecasts. So we have made significant advancements in the era of when the actual event impacts the Earth. 

Where we were at 13 hours, our era could be anywhere within a 

13-hour window. Now we have reduced that down to a 6-hour window on when we know that the coronal mass ejection will impact 

the Earth. So that is great strides in improving our forecasts, and 

also the model that I talked about, the first model that we have 

been able to operationalize from NSF and NASA, definitely played 

a critical role in that. So continuing to transition those research 

into operations is important to advance the forecast accuracy. 

Ms. EDWARDS. But it is still not terribly accurate. So, for example, even with a 6-hour window, it is—I mean, it would be really 

difficult to implement any activity on the ground or protecting the 

infrastructure in that kind of time frame. 

Ms. FURGIONE. So that is a 6-hour window on when it would impact the Earth but the actual alert or warning goes out 1 to 3 days 

in advance. So you actually do have time in advance to take those 

precautionary measures on the power grid, on your GPS and on the 

satellite instruments to put them into safe mode. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thanks. 

And then I have 13 seconds. Let me take advantage of that. In 

your opinion, and this is to any of our panelists, how well do you 

think the public really understands the linkage between the research and the applications and their everyday experiences of just 

being able to power on a cell phone? 

Dr. BAKER. I would say that there has been tremendous improvement in public awareness of the effects of space weather in, let us 

say, the last 5 to ten years but we still have a long way to go. We 

still have a lot of work to do to make people understand what is 

the variability of the Sun, how does it affect the Earth environment 

and how does it bore down to their daily lives as your question indicates. I think we have an opportunity with the approaching solar 

maximum to really see more frequent kind of disturbances, to put 

those in proper context and to really help the public understand 

what to be worried about and what not to be worried about. I think 

it is key that all the agencies play that role. 

Ms. FURGIONE. One thing also, as we were looking at the solar 

maximum and using that as a potential to increase the education 

and outreach, one of the emphasis is that the solar maximum is an 

increase in the number of events but not necessarily an increase 

in the significance of the events. So an event can happen at any 

time, and we want folks to make sure that they weren’t just focusing on the solar maximum and that they were safe before or after 

the solar maximum because an event can happen at any time. 

Chairman PALAZZO. I now recognize Mr. Brooks from Alabama. 

Mr. BROOKS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Given the deficits and debt that America has accumulated and 

the exploding costs of entitlement programs, the two of those putting more and more constraints on the productive side of the federal expenditures, productive being things like NASA and scientific 
66 

advancement, to what extent should NASA and NOAA consider alternative means for gathering important data via commercial data 

buys, posted payloads, use of research on the International Space 

Station, increased use of CubeSats or other means, and that is for 

any of the witnesses. 

Dr. BAKER. I could first remark that thank you for the question, 

and this was a very important component of our decadal survey 

was to try to look broadly at all of those alternative means, and 

I think we came out very strongly foursquare in support of a much 

greater diversification of access to space, tools in space, rides of opportunity, the data buy service level agreements, all the things you 

talked about, and I think I can speak with great confidence for the 

entire steering committee that this was warmly received, these 

ideas were warmly received within the decadal survey context as 

excellent ways to make most efficient and effective use of what are 

known to be limited resources. 

Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Gay? 

Mr. GAY. Yes, sir. We are looking increasingly at alternative 

means for access to space, and in fact, most recently have selected 

a hosted payload in the Earth Sciences Venture Class program. 

The Tempo mission will be hosted on a commercial geosync spacecraft. Also looking at increased usage of the ISS as a platform for 

science will be flying the SAGE 3 instrument on the space station, 

the OKO–3 instrument and also there is some astrophysics missions as well that will be using the space station as a platform. 

Also, looking at the capabilities for smaller spacecraft to provide 

real scientific or high scientific results. We are flying CubeSats but 

more for educational purposes but we are looking at the smaller 

end. We have a mission that was recently selected called Cygnus, 

which is multiple small spacecraft that will look at achieving some 

real groundbreaking science with very small platforms. 

Mr. BROOKS. Thank you, Mr. Gay. 

Ms. Furgione? 

Ms. FURGIONE. Thank you, Mr. Brooks. As I mentioned before, 

in the post-DSCOVR era, we will definitely have to seek alternative 

means and look at all the options, particularly in these budget-constrained times. 

Mr. BROOKS. Well, I cannot over-emphasize the importance of 

you all doing whatever you can to become more efficient in the context again of the exploding costs associated with the wealth transfers and the entitlement programs. As you see from the public debate, the issues that we face in Congress are very substantial in 

that regard, so I appreciate your attentiveness to that issue. 

Now, a question for Mr. Baker. What led the survey committee 

to conclude that the Solar-Terrestrial Probes program would be better suited as competed principal investigator cost-capped missions 

rather than as a traditional NASA center-led mission? 

Dr. BAKER. Yes. We were extremely concerned as a committee 

and as a community about how to contain the spiraling upward 

costs in mission development. We worked closely with the aerospace corporation to examine the history of mission performance, 

and we looked at the question with the aerospace history database, 

what was the evidence of which missions performed best at a given 

complexity level, and there was a very clear record in that that 
67 

showed that PI-led cost-capped missions performed much better at 

a given complexity level were considerably lower in cost and so it 

was our considered opinion that making that the hallmark of the 

Solar-Terrestrial Probes, making them cost capped, making them 

led by principal investigators, making sure that the full lifecycle 

costs were going to be contained within that envelope was the single-best way we had of managing them more effectively and in a 

more cost-contained fashion. 

Mr. BROOKS. Thank you, Dr. Baker. 

And Mr. Gay, can you please share with us NASA’s view on the 

survey committee’s recommendation? 

Mr. GAY. Yes, sir. We are certainly going to look at this. I mean, 

it is an acquisition strategy or acquisition approach, and we have 

processes at NASA to make these kinds of decisions. We do have 

to include factors such as workforce. But typically the strategic 

missions implemented by the NASA centers are traditionally the 

larger, more complex missions, and it is typically easier to do 

smaller missions on cost. 

That said, however, I believe NASA has been making great 

strides in our ability to improve our ability to estimate what a mission is going to cost through various analytic tools as well as our 

ability to manage them with value management and detailed assessments of how things are going, so we have been making improvements, I think really across the board, both on the PI led as 

well as the in-house missions. I think the idea of looking at the 

Solar-Terrestrial approach line as a cost-capped mission line is 

worth considering. In fact, we are going to consider it very closely, 

and look at models for managing those types of missions so that 

we can ensure that they are done on cost and on schedule. 

Mr. BROOKS. Thank you, and thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, and if there is no objections from 

the Members, we will enter a second round of questions. Okay, and 

I will lead off. 

Ms. Furgione, does NOAA have any plans to revamp funding for 

applied space weather research, given its importance as cited in 

the decadal survey report? 

Ms. FURGIONE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We were quite excited 

to see that the report was recognizing that additional resources 

needed to be dedicated to advancing the development and transition into operations. So as we look at our research activities on applied research, we are definitely hoping to see more connection and 

more collaboration with NASA and NSF on this research to operations. 

Chairman PALAZZO. What are the benefits for rechartering the 

National Space Weather program as the survey committee recommends versus leaving the program as is, and what are the drawbacks? And this is pretty much for all the witnesses, and we will 

start off with Dr. Baker. 

Dr. BAKER. Yeah, we looked at that. Thank you for the opportunity to talk more about this. It has become clear to us as the 

steering committee that over the last few years, the National Space 

Weather program, all its elements have increased in prominence, 

significance, importance to society, and it was the strong feeling as 

we discussed these topics that having attention at the highest lev-
68 

els of the executive office of the President would be very valuable, 

very important and really help to coordinate across the agencies. 

And so the considered opinion as expressed in the survey was that 

at least looking seriously at rechartering at a higher level, a higher 

level within the executive office, making sure that attention was 

being paid to all the multi-agency issues was probably one of the 

best ways to increase attention, assure that all the topics and 

themes were getting their due, and that ultimately we could have 

a more effective national program. 

Mr. GAY. Thank you. I would first say, I would like to have further discussions with Dr. Baker and with NOAA and our other 

partners in the National Space Weather program council about the 

pros and cons. I don’t feel like I am at a point where I know, you 

know, or comfortable either way in making a recommendation. But 

I do know even today under the Office of the Federal Coordinator 

for Meteorology, we are embarking on development of a strategic 

plan for that organization, and the principal focus for that is to address the recommendations of the decadal survey. Whether it stays 

where it is or is rechartered elsewhere, I don’t have an opinion on 

that today, sir. 

Chairman PALAZZO. That is fair enough, so you two get together 

and work it out. 

And Ms. Furgione? 

Ms. FURGIONE. Thank you, and I have similar comments to that, 

to my colleagues. It would definitely raise the visibility if that is 

the primary goal, but we do have quite a few activities that are already underway in our current structure through the National 

Space Weather Program including, as Mr. Gay talked about, the 

strategic research plan that is already being developed. 

Dr. BAKER. I would just like to say, I would like to compliment 

the agencies on what they have done with the present advisory and 

organizational structure. It has been amazing progress in these last 

years. I would just say that I think it is very worthwhile to talk 

with the Office of Science and Technology Policy, with the Office 

of Management and Budget, all the players on the executive side 

and with strong involvement of the advisory committees and the 

oversight committees here in Congress to talk about what is the 

best way to have the most effective national space weather program. 

Chairman PALAZZO. All right. Thank you. 

Dr. Baker, can you summarize the survey’s recommendations related to the new space weather and climatology program with 

NASA’s lead, and what led the committee to make such a recommendation? 

Dr. BAKER. Well, first of all, let me say that this was not strictly 

a recommendation, it was what we call the vision. We—as all good 

survey committees—overstepped our bounds. We went beyond what 

we were asked to do or instructed to do, and decided to give advice 

of a sort where we weren’t asked for it. But our vision was to think 

about what do we need to have an effective national operational 

space weather program. We have to have complete observations of 

the Sun, the interplanetary medium, the effects of Earth. We have 

to have the models, the tools that are really necessary to tie all this 

together. This really requires an investment of more resources than 
69 

are presently available in the budgets of any of the agencies, and 

so the vision we laid out was one that would require another $100 

million to $200 per year over this next decade without doing damage to the basic science or the ongoing activities of NOAA or NSF 

or the other agencies, and so the vision we talked about was if possible, we would love to have the present roles and responsibilities 

reinforced with more resources, but if that is not possible, then one 

possible way would be for NASA to take on greater basic observational monitoring of the system, have that put more into its charter 

and mandate. And so the fundamental recommendation we made 

was to have a follow-on study that looked closely at these issues 

and made firm recommendations. We felt the steering committee 

was neither chartered, as I said, nor did it have the time to do the 

kind of detailed development of a plan that is really necessary. And 

so I hope that the real outgrowth of this will not be that we take 

the vision alone but that we really have a much more detailed examination of all the aspects of this. 

Chairman PALAZZO. I now recognize Ms. Edwards. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I just want to follow along because I had asked earlier, Mr. Gay, 

your opinion about expanding NASA’s role, but I didn’t have a 

chance to hear from Ms. Furgione about how that expanded role for 

NASA would relate to NOAA’s activities, and so if you could just 

give me a minute. 

Ms. FURGIONE. Thank you, Ms. Edwards, for that question. One 

of the things with our operational mission is that we are able to 

rely upon our successes in our hurricane forecasting, and our tornado forecasting, as I mentioned, those particular areas that we 

have proven success in the past, and that includes with the hurricane model in particular the interagency modeling and the transition to research that we have been able to put in place and improve 

our hurricane track and intensity forecast. So a proven success, as 

you saw, with Hurricane Sandy, and so those roles and responsibilities we believe should stay—the operational responsibilities should 

stay with NOAA in regards to producing those operational forecasts 

and warnings. 

Ms. EDWARDS. So given that, what would you see? As to the extent that NASA were taking on additional areas of responsibility, 

how would you see that fit in? 

Ms. FURGIONE. Well, additional responsibilities, they are already 

doing the basic and applied research, so if they can continue to 

work with us on the transition of that applied research through our 

community modeling, that would be the ideal situation. 

Ms. EDWARDS. And so can you just explain to me, and Mr. Gay, 

perhaps you could chime in here, what are some of the key challenges for transitioning the basic solar and space physics research 

into tools that can be accessed by users and applied in the operations that Ms. Furgione spoke about? 

Mr. GAY. I think some of the key challenges are validation of the 

models and user acceptance of those models. They do have to go 

through an extensive validation period, and that is typically a very 

hard point and takes a lot of time and effort, and I defer to my colleague from NOAA to talk about what is like on the receiving end 

of those but I am sure it is very difficult for them to, they build 
70 

confidence in the models that they are operating, using at this 

time, and there is a high bar, a very high bar for them to accept 

a new model in that place. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Ms. Furgione? 

Mr. FURGIONE. Yeah, a point I will make is in regards to our requirements process, so as we look at our customers’ requirements 

and their changing needs and increasing demands for this type of 

information, that is where we can then hone in on what particular 

model would ideally help improve our forecasts to meet those customer needs, so it is really about the requirements and also the 

validation as Mr. Gay talked about. 

Ms. EDWARDS. And Dr. Baker, as you respond, I wonder if you 

could also tell me the degree to which you think that the current 

federal agency activities that can be coordinated or better coordinated including funding and plans for space weather and how effective the current coordination is. 

Dr. BAKER. Let me respond to, or address a point that was just 

made here. I would say that the difference between terrestrial 

weather and space weather is the degree of understanding we have 

of the basic processes. I would say that we are far behind where 

terrestrial weather is as far as our understanding of the fundamental basic processes. We are being surprised all the time by 

what the Sun does and how the Earth and the Earth’s environment 

respond. So I think there is a much closer coupling in many respects between NASA basic research and the needs thereof and 

what can be transitioned into an operational state. 

I would say that therefore, to go to the second part of your question, it is probably more crucial to have close cooperation between 

agencies in this developing field than it is where the physics are 

sort of cut and dried and so again, I am encouraged by the fact that 

space weather, the necessity to understand this complex system, is 

making the agencies work more closely and cooperatively. I just 

think that there is more that can be done and I think that—my 

hope is that the decadal survey will be a catalyst to make this 

work even better and that there will be more coordination of, let 

us say, the basic research, the aspirations of that research, the 

funding that is necessary to transition, but I think it is really going 

to require that all players work in an orchestrated way to try to 

make this the most efficient, effective, especially when we look at 

how limited the resources are going to be over the next years. This 

has to be done very efficiently and effectively. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you. You know, Mr. Chairman, one thing 

that we didn’t have a chance to get actually on the record was not 

just the impacts to us as civilians in this environment but what the 

impacts are on our critical national infrastructure that is related 

to national security and the importance of strengthening what we 

are doing right now so that we don’t have any gaps in understanding space weather and its impact and so that over the long 

term that we are considering all of our infrastructure in this environment. Thank you. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Thank you, Ms. Edwards. 

I thank the witnesses for their valuable testimony and the Members for their questions. The Members of the Subcommittee may 

have additional questions for the witnesses, and we will ask you to 
71 

respond to those in writing. The record will remain open for two 

weeks for additional comments and statements from Members. 

On a related note, Ms. Furgione, this Committee has several outstanding letters and requests sent to NOAA regarding the National 

Weather Service over the last few weeks. These include the mismanagement of NWS budget and funding and questions about a review of your agency’s handling of Superstorm Sandy. I would ask 

for your commitment that these requests for information are fully 

responded to by the end of the calendar year. Can we receive your 

assurance that that will be done? 

Ms. FURGIONE. Yes, sir. 

Chairman PALAZZO. Well, thank you very much. 

The witnesses are excused and this hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:04 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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Appendix I 

ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS
74 

ANSWERS TO POST-HEARING QUESTIONS

Responses by Dr. Daniel Baker 
75 
76 
77 
78 
79 
80 
81 
82 
83 
84 
85 
86 

Responses by Mr. Charles J. Gay 
87 
88 
89 
90 

Responses by Ms. Laura Furgione 
91 
92 
93 

Æ