Abstract
Technological infrastructures in space and on ground provide services on which modern society and economies rely. Space weather related research is funded under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP7) of the European Union in response to the need of protecting such critical infrastructures from the damage which could be caused by extreme space weather events. The calls for proposals published under the topic “Security of space assets from space weather events” of the FP7 Space Theme aimed to improve forecasts and predictions of disruptive space weather events as well as identify best practices to limit the impacts on space- and ground-based infrastructures and their data provision. Space weather related work was also funded under the topic “Exploitation of space science and exploration data”, which aims to add value to space missions and Earth-based observations by contributing to the effective scientific exploitation of collected data. Since 2007 a total of 20 collaborative projects have been funded, covering a variety of physical phenomena associated with space weather, from ionospheric disturbances and scintillation, to geomagnetically induced currents at Earth’s surface, to coronal mass ejections and solar energetic particles. This article provides an overview of the funded projects, touching upon some results and referring to specific websites for a more exhaustive description of the projects’ outcomes.
Highlights
Technological infrastructures in space and on ground provide services on which modern society and economies rely
Space weather related research is funded under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP7) of the European Union in response to the need of protecting such critical infrastructures from the damage which could be caused by extreme space weather events
The calls for proposals published under the topic ‘‘Security of space assets from space weather events’’ of the FP7 Space Theme aimed to improve forecasts and predictions of disruptive space weather events as well as identify best practices to limit the impacts on space- and ground-based infrastructures and their data provision
Summary
Under the Space Theme of the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP7), the European Union has been funding over EUR 37 million worth of space weather-related research through 20 collaborative projects involving approximately 165 organisations, including universities, research institutes and companies. The European Union’s space strategy is conceived as a response to the social, economic and strategic challenges faced by society. As the space sector contributes directly to the Europe 2020 Strategy, namely smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, the European Commission is tasked ‘‘to develop an effective space policy to provide the tools to address. The FP7 Work Programme 2010 for the Space Theme clearly stated that ‘‘during. The objective to protect the space- and ground-based infrastructures was translated into a specific research topic within the FP7 Space Theme
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