Advancing the State of the Art in Space Weather Modelling with in-situ Data Driving

Self-consistent and observationally driven modeling of space weather impacts the whole way from the solar photosphere to sites of human presence in the heliosphere is a powerful tool in protecting our astronauts and satellites in space and our technologies on the ground. This proposal advances two key aspects of the ingestion of data into numerical simulations to enable this technology. First, we will generate a pipeline to make self-consistent photospheric datasets from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory to provide complete and comprehensive constraints for the time dependent evolution of all plasma properties at the solar photosphere, thereby advancing our knowledge of the initiation of space weather. Second, we will mature an innovative new technique for including the input of in-situ measurements from current and future satellites orbiting the Sun, the Earth-Sun L1 point, and the Mars-Sun L1 point to provide important validation, correction, and cleaning of the modelled impacts before their arrival at Earth, the Moon, and Mars.

Self-consistent photospheric datasets from SDO/HMI; pipeline for ingesting in-situ measurements from current and future solar/L1/Mars-L1 satellites; improved validation, correction, and cleaning of modeled space weather impacts before arrival at Earth, Moon, and Mars.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.