AMPERE Successfully Demonstrate Space Weather
Observation
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL),
with help from Boeing and Iridium Communications , has successfully
implemented a new space-based system to monitor Earth's space
environment. Known as the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary
Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE), the system provides
real-time magnetic field measurements using commercial satellites
as part of a new observation network to forecast weather in space.
This is the first step in developing a system that enables 24-hour
tracking of Earth's response to supersonic blasts of plasma ejected
from the sun at collection rates fast enough to one day enable
forecasters to predict space weather effects.
"This milestone brings us one step closer to accurate space
weather forecasts around the Earth," said APL's Dr. Brian J.
Anderson, principal investigator and the scientist who spearheads
the program. "Solar storms can disrupt satellite service and damage
telecommunications networks, cause power grid blackouts and even
endanger high-altitude aircraft. The next wave of solar storms will
occur over the next three to five years and recent solar activity
is just the beginning of a long, stormy space weather 'season.' The
timing for AMPERE is just right because we need this system both to
help us understand how solar storms disturb the space environment
and to develop reliable monitoring and forecasts of major space
weather storms."
The Boeing engineering team and scientists at APL have proven
that the program yields continuous, real-time measurements of the
magnetic field over the entire Earth simultaneously with up to 100
times greater sampling density than previously possible.
"The electric currents linking Earth's uppermost atmosphere with
space -- those same currents that generate the aurora borealis --
also produce magnetic signatures that can only be sensed from
space," said Dr. Anderson. "This achievement by the AMPERE team is
a quantum advance in science that allows the first continuous
(24/7) global observation of space weather."
The AMPERE program is funded by a $4 million grant from the
National Science Foundation (NSF) to the Johns Hopkins Applied
Physics Laboratory. The laboratory, working with Boeing, partnered
with Iridium to introduce this new capability by using Iridium's
commercial satellite constellation.
"NSF is proud and thrilled to be the catalyst for this
breakthrough project," said Dr. Therese Jorgensen, program director
in NSF's division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences which
sponsors AMPERE. "AMPERE is a hugely exciting and novel project
that brings the best of university scientists together with
commercial space assets and industry engineering expertise to open
a new window on our home planet's response to solar activity."
Boeing presently handles data collection, processing and
packaging from the Iridium satellite fleet for AMPERE and transfers
the magnetic field samples to the Science Data Center at APL (in
Laurel, Md.), where the data are processed to yield globally
integrated views of Earth's space environment. Leveraging more than
nine years of operations and maintenance support to the Iridium
satellite fleet, Boeing was able to create a new data pathway for
transferring magnetic field samples from the satellites to the
ground station - providing the data in real-time and up to 100
times more frequently than before. Based on this innovation, AMPERE
provides data every two to 20 seconds from each Iridium satellite
and the data are available within minutes for analysis. Previously,
data were only sampled once every three minutes and were available
for analysis only the following day.
"This program provides a model of a successful public-private
partnership between the scientific and academic communities and
industry," said Steve Oswald, vice president and general manager,
Boeing Intelligence and Security Systems. "Together this team will
answer critical scientific questions about our home planet."
AMPERE uses Iridium's network of 66 low-Earth orbiting (LEO)
communication satellites, the only system capable of providing a
fully global view.
"The AMPERE program validates the potential for using sensors on
the LEO Iridium satellites to provide unprecedented visibility over
the entire Earth's surface and its atmosphere," said Don Thoma,
executive vice president, Marketing, Iridium. "We are actively in
discussions with partners in the scientific community to
incorporate a wide range of Earth observation and remote sensing
missions through hosted payloads on Iridium NEXT, our
next-generation satellites."
The next step for the APL scientists will be to develop the
analytical tools to evaluate and forecast severe geomagnetic storms
in space. This phase of the project is on schedule and the first
release of AMPERE space weather products to the scientific
community is planned for the fourth quarter of 2010.