NASA Selects Proposals to Study Space Weather, Earth’s Atmosphere

NASA has selected proposals to conduct concept studies for a mission designed to investigate the Earth’s surrounding space weather and its interaction with the planet’s atmosphere.

The studies will support the Dynamical Neutral Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling mission by shedding light on how changes in the lower atmosphere influence the upper atmosphere, where space weather phenomena such as auroras and satellite disruptions occur, NASA said.

In line with the 2013 Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics, the mission will provide insights crucial for mitigating potential disruptions space weather can cause to critical technologies, including navigation systems and satellites.

The selected teams are led by principal investigators Tomoko Matsuo and Aimee Merkel from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Scott Bailey from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Each proposal will receive $2 million for a nine-month concept study. NASA also set a cost cap of $250 million for the mission, excluding launch costs.

Key partners include Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, BAE Systems and the Naval Research Laboratory.