Space Weather

It was only 51 years ago, on April 1, 1960, that NASA's first weather satellite, TIROS-1,  was launched.  Back then, weather satellite technologies, weather forecasting models, ...were at their infancy. I would imagine scientists having a hard time convincing politicians about the importance of weather satellites, get budget for it, etc.  Now, so many industries such as agriculture, tourism, aviation, and navigation all rely on these satellites' data, weather models and forecasts for their day-to-day business.  We take the convoluted process of designing, building, testing, launching, and operating weather satellites, processing their data, and improving existing models all for granted.

Now, space weather is as new to us as weather forecasting business was 50 years ago.  Understanding atmospheres and weathers of the celestial bodies in our solar system and their effects on the Earth's atmosphere and our satellites and spacecrafts there are as vital and necessary for us as weather modeling and satellites are.  For example, solar flares and eruptions can disrupt our communication and navigation satellites*.  Imagine a day when your cell phones and GPS devices do not work, and nor does the communications and navigation of the airline and navigation industry.  That is a doomsday scenario, one that Solar Dynamics Observatory and Stereo are trying to understand better and help us prepare for.

Today the news of a major milestone was announced: 
For the first time we have been able to track a space storm!**

You can learn more about space weather and look at current space weather and forecasts via
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SWN/ , or
http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/weather.html.

You can also install Space Weather Apps developed by NASA on your smart phone, even though they may not work during an bad space storm!

*   http://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/sftheory/spaceweather.htm
** http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/news/solarstorm-tracking.html