In August 2012, the National Research Council (NRC) of the U.S. National Academies issued the second-ever “decadal survey” for solar and space physics (Heliophysics). Sponsored by NASA and the National Science Foundation, and with the support of the relevant parts of NOAA and the Department of Defense, the survey effort was informed by some 300 white papers, dozens of town hall and community meetings, and the work, over an 18 month period, of 85 scientists who populated the Survey steering committee, three discipline-oriented study panels, and five cross-disciplinary working groups. The survey report, “Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society” (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13060), provides an overview of the principal achievements of the past decade, a broad survey of the current state of knowledge, and a multiagency research strategy to address, over the period 2013–2022, what were identified to be the highest priority scientific targets. As the report's title suggests, survey participants also focused on applications of solar and space physics research—especially in the areas of space weather and space climatology. Indeed, scientific research has reached a level of sophistication such that observations, theory, and modeling may be readily migrated to serve the needs of a society increasingly dependent on space-based and Earth-based technological systems that they themselves are also increasingly susceptible to a space environment that fluctuates on the times scales of both weather and climate (Figure 1). The report emphasizes the critical need for the Federal government to establish a separate funding line to support space weather specification and forecasting tools, in addition to the traditional basic research. Limited resources, the reliance on NASA research assets for what are operational needs and the ad hoc nature of agency cooperative efforts are longstanding and long-recognized problems. A necessary first step to address just the organizational aspects of these problems would be to develop a means to better coordinate the efforts of the multiple agencies that are involved in making observations and predictions of space weather. The National Space Weather Program (NSWP) offers a vehicle for such coordination, but to strengthen the NSWP and to consider issues pertaining to program oversight and agency roles and responsibilities, the survey committee recommends that it be re-chartered at the highest possible level of the executive branch of the U.S. government. The survey report suggests that the NSWP be placed under the National Science and Technology Council in the OSTP Executive Office of the President. These steps and others comprise the survey's recommended new initiative in space weather and climatology (SWaC—Chapter 7). Implementing the initiative would require the support of OSTP and the full involvement of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). An analysis by the decadal survey steering committee showed that to establish the required observational platforms and the modeling tools envisioned in the SWaC initiative would require approximately $100–200 million per year over the course of the next decade. The survey steering committee recommends a heightened role for NASA in the implementation of the SWaC initiative. For example, one model suggested in the report would be to establish a new program within NASA that would be chartered to design, build, test, and launch the key space-based space weather assets. This new activity would build upon the knowledge, experience, and innovative potential of the broad NASA science community. In this scenario, NOAA and other operational agencies would help define requirements while NASA would assume new “monitoring” functions. Regardless of how the SWaC or a similar effort is organized, it is the strong view of the decadal survey committee that senior government officials must step up and define—at long last—an operational space weather system worthy of a leading technological society. Daniel N. Baker is a Broad Reach Endowed Chair of Space Sciences Director, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics Professor, and Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences Professor in the department of physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. Email: [email protected]. Art Charo is a Study Director on the Space Studies Board at the National Research Council, Washington, DC. Thomas Zurbuchen is a Professor of Space Science and Aerospace Engineering and an Associate Dean for Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Baker et al. (2013) studied this question.