Current work includes an analysis of solar wind, geomagnetic, andionospheric data in order to better understand the electrodynamics of geomagnetic storms. Such knowledge will significantly improve our ability to safeguard vital DoD assets including communications systems, radars, and manned spaceflight operations. In addition, we are examining the threshold plasma parameters that signal the onset of harmful electrical charging for high-altitude spacecraft. This will provide the warfighter with crucial information concerning the operational capability of space platforms.
The image displayed on the right illustrates the coronal loops over the eastern limb of the Sun was taken in the TRACE 71Å pass band characteristics of plasma at 1 MK, on November 6, 1999, at 02:30 UT.
A dedicated computer lab is available to design and test space plasma computer models. For larger computational requirements, there is a close collaboration between the Air Force Institute of Technology and the world-class ASC Major Shared Resource Center, providing access to state-of-the-art parallel processing capabilities and high-end visualization tools.
Finally, access to the Air Force Research Lab’s large space weather observational database (both satellite- and ground-based) provides an extensive Tbenchmarking and validation capability.echnology and the world-class ASC Major Shared Resource Center, providing access to state-of-the-art parallel processing capabilities and high-end visualization tools. Finally, access to the Air Force Research Lab’s large space weather observational database (both satellite- and ground-based) provides an extensive benchmarking and validation capability.
