The MMS team completed their first comprehensive performance test. Due to launch in late 2014, MMS will investigate how the sun and Earth’s magnetic fields connect and disconnect.
The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare which can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where communications signals travel. This disrupts the radio signals for as long as the flare is ongoing.
Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL) project launched 20 balloons from Antarctica to study the Van Allen Belts space weather phenomenon.
The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission is scheduled to launch in June 2013. IRIS will deepen our understanding of how heat and energy move through the lower atmosphere of the sun.
On May 17, 2013, the sun erupted with an Earth-directed CME that can reach Earth one to three days later and affect electronic systems in satellites and on the ground.
While we need to protect Earth from the most intense forms of space weather, some people worry that a gigantic flare could hurl enough energy to destroy Earth, but this is not actually possible.
The sun emitted a third significant solar flare in under 24 hours, peaking at 9:11 p.m. EDT on May 13, 2013. This flare is classified as an X3.2 flare.
Several missions within NASA’s Heliophysics observatory (Soho,Stereo,SDO) captured images of a gigantic eruption on the sun on May 1, 2013. Working together, such missions provide excellent coverage.
On April 24-25, 2013, the sun erupted with two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that can affect electronic systems in satellites. Missions Messenger and STEREO-A maybe affected.
The EVEX (Equatorial Vortex Experiment) sounding rocket help scientists better understand and predict the electrical storms in Earth's upper atmosphere that can interfere with satellite signals.
The Extreme Ultraviolet Normal-Incidence Spectrograph (EUNIS) experiment was successfully launched at 1:30 p.m. EDT on April 23, 2013. Preliminary data shows that the experiment performed as planned.
Since 2010, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has had virtually unbroken coverage of the sun's rise toward solar maximum, the peak of solar activity in its regular 11year cycle.
NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) satellite arrived at Vandenberg AFB in Ca. on 4/16/13. IRIS help us understanding how heat and energy move through the deepest levels of the corona
UPDATE: A coronal mass ejection (CME), associated with the April 11 solar flare, hit Earth's magnetic field on April 13, 2013 but the impact was weak so only high latitude aurora were visible.
From 1998 to 2002, NASA's Wind spacecraft traveled through the foreshock region in front of Earth 17 times, providing new information, like short large amplitude magnetic structures (SLAMS).
On April 16, 2008, a suite of NASA instruments was launched into space to study a unique region of Earth’s upper atmosphere: the electrically charged region called the ionosphere.
The Charge and Mass of Meteoric Smoke Particles (CHAMPS) mission collected data on how much meteor smoke exists, size of the particles, the electrical charge, and if these are noctilucent clouds.
