Europe needs operational space weather services
With its Council Ministerial 2025 proposal, ESA’s Space Safety Programme will improve European space weather forecasting and prepare the transition into operational services for infrastructure affected by space weather and solar activity.
Solar storms can’t be stopped, but their effects can be mitigated with mature space weather services monitoring ongoing conditions, delivering accurate nowcasts and forecasts along with timely and reliable space weather alerts and reports.
The proposed ESA Space Safety activities will mature service elements into an operational framework under a clear governance scheme.
An enhanced space weather monitoring system tailored to European users will be developed. It will provide timely, accurate and actionable information for all user domains, focusing on spacecraft operations, GNSS services, electricity transmission grid operators and others.
An early-warning system will be put into place and tested. It will enable prompt responses based on actionable information.
Additional areas of focus
ESA will also focus on key underpinning developments that improve European capability to provide accurate, timely and actionable space weather information, such as the enhancement of space weather modelling and simulation capability utilising and improving the Virtual Space Weather Modelling Centre (VSWMC).
This relies on the development of new space weather models that take advantage of scientific progress in space physics, deep learning, and artificial intelligence, exploiting the advanced technologies available in the new ESA Space High Performance Computing (HPC) facility.
The Space Weather Payload Data Centre (PDC) and Data Hub will also be expanded to ensure near real-time availability of data from all ESA-operated space weather missions and developed further to include processing of the data from the Vigil mission.