NOAA’s Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO) Program

Abstract

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO) program includes a suite of in situ plasma instrumentation on the SWFO-L1 spacecraft along with compact coronagraphs (CCOR) on both SWFO-L1 and the GOES-U geostationary weather satellite. GOES-U is currently slated to launch in June 2024 and SWFO-L1 is slated to launch in April 2025. Here we provide an overview of the spacecraft and missions along with their instrumentation and products. The GOES-U CCOR-1 will be the first coronagraph flown for operational space weather monitoring. The SWFO-L1 in situ instruments include the Solar Wind Plasma Sensor (SWiPS), SupraThermal Ion Sensor (STIS), and a pair of fluxgate magnetometers (MAG). The in situ measurements for the plasma and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) will be critical for driving NOAA’s magnetospheric and ionospheric models in real time. The suprathermal ion and electron measurements will be useful for early forecasts of arrival of geoeffective structures such as CMEs and interplanetary shocks. NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) will provide tracking and control along with data acquisition for the observations. The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) will perform the real-time processing, product generation, and dissemination. The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), part of NESDIS, will curate the data products for non-real-time (retrospective) users to browse and access via a comprehensive API and the upcoming Space Weather Portal. The SWFO Program will complement existing and planned observations from other satellites currently in NOAA’s satellite fleet along with satellites of partner domestic and international partner organizations.