Space Weather: An Overview of Policy and Select U.S. Government Roles and Responsibilities

Abstract

Space weather refers to conditions on the sun, in the solar wind, and within the extreme reaches of Earths upper atmosphere. In certain circumstances, space weather may pose hazards to space-borne and ground-based critical infrastructure systems and assets that are vulnerable to geomagnetically induced current, electromagnetic interference, or radiation exposure. Hazardous space weather events are rare, but may affect broad areas of the globe. Effects may include physical damage to satellites or orbital degradation, accelerated corrosion of gas pipelines, disruption of radio communications, damage to undersea cable systems or interference with data transmission, permanent damage to large power transformers essential to electric grid operations, and radiation hazards to astronauts in orbit.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 06, 2020
Accession Number
AD1169969

Entities

People

  • Brian Humphreys
  • Eva Lipiec

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Congress
  • Defense Systems
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Electromagnetic Pulses
  • Emergency Response
  • Energy Security
  • Homeland Security
  • Military Operations
  • National Security
  • Observatories
  • Public Administration
  • Space Weather
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • Weather Forecasting

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Cybersecurity.
  • Space Exploration and Orbital Mechanics.
  • Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Structures.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Satellites