{"id":159952,"date":"2022-05-29T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2022-05-29T18:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=159952"},"modified":"2022-05-29T06:10:05","modified_gmt":"2022-05-29T16:10:05","slug":"grant-monitor-space-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/05\/29\/grant-monitor-space-weather\/","title":{"rendered":"$2.5M<\/abbr> grant to monitor space weather, making space travel safer"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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A look at what the neutron monitor station will look like.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa-led project to better predict and understand weather in space earned a major boost from the National Science Foundation<\/a> (NSF<\/abbr>). The four-year, $2.5 million grant will fund a project to construct a space weather station center on the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa campus and deploy a neutron monitor on Maui, which researchers say will greatly improve their research in this critical field.<\/p>\n

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The UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Department of Physics and Astronomy<\/a> will receive $1.2 million of the $2.5 million grant. Â鶹´«Ã½M\u0101noa Associate Professor Veronica Bindi<\/strong>, the principal investigator on the project, says her team is collaborating with researchers from the University of New Hampshire and the University of Arizona.<\/p>\n

The project will measure the most powerful particles emitted by the Sun, which are solar energetic particles and solar neutron particles. These particles can pose a risk to astronauts and lead to a major failure of electronics in space, such as satellites, and the technologies used in space travel by Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin. On Earth, solar storms may affect the power grid and disrupt radio communications.<\/p>\n

This project will help to better monitor the solar particles and develop alert systems to advance our predictions of space weather hazards so that astronauts are safe during space missions. Bindi added that the station and neutron monitor will take approximately three years to construct and will be built just in time for our next \u201csolar maximum,\u201d which is expected sometime in 2025 or 2026.<\/p>\n

“Here on the ground, before doing an activity like hiking or surfing, you want to know about the weather. The same is with space mission planning,” said Bindi. “You want to know that the weather is going to be nice, which means that we are not going to have too many particles coming towards our astronauts, instruments and assets in space.”<\/p>\n

Bindi is working with UH<\/abbr>\u2019s Institute for Astronomy<\/a> (IfA<\/abbr>) to identify a high-elevation site in existing IfA<\/abbr> facilities on Maui and obtain necessary approvals and permits to place a neutron monitor, which is about the size of a shipping container.<\/p>\n

According to Bindi, the site on Haleakal\u0101 was chosen because more particles will be captured the higher the monitor is located above sea level. The monitor will be one of 50 worldwide that will increase the coverage to more parts of the globe.<\/p>\n

A data processing center will also be created on the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa campus to serve as a hub for the researchers to work and organize the data. They will combine the data gathered on Haleakal\u0101, with energetic particle data from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station, and make their results displayed to the public in real-time.<\/p>\n

As the principal investigator, Bindi and UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa will manage the entire project and be involved in every aspect of its goals. The University of New Hampshire will support the construction of the neutron monitor, with its initial data taking, calibration and data quality. The University of Arizona will work on theoretical models that describe the propagation of particles from the Sun to Earth used to define our space weather results and forecast capabilities.<\/p>\n

Related UH<\/abbr> News<\/em> stories:<\/p>\n