NASA's Living with a Star Program: Science with relevance

Abstract

NASA has initiated the Living with a Star (LWS) Program to develop the scientific understanding to address the aspects of the connected Sun-Earth system that affect life and society. A goal of the program is to bridge the gap between science, engineering, and user application communities by addressing scientific questions that pertain to human radiation exposure, climate change, and technological systems. This will enable future science, operational, and commercial objectives in space and atmospheric environments by improving engineering approaches to the accommodation and/or mitigation of the effects of solar variability on these systems. The formulation of the LWS Program architecture and implementation plan is currently in progress with inputs from the science and engineering communities. There are plans for two groups of science spacecraft: (a) solar dynamics elements that observe the Sun and track disturbances originating there and (b) geospace elements located between the Sun and the Earth and around the Earth to measure downstream effects the geospace response to changes in solar activity. Plans also include a data analysis component to improve scientific understanding, and a series of Space Environment Testbeds to provide infusion of the improved understanding to the design and operations of future missions. The LWS Program is developing partnerships with other US and International agencies and industry to augment existing capabilities. The full paper will give an overview of the program architecture and the implementation and partnering plan for LWS.