From Before to Beyond:

NOAA’s Role InSpace Weather

Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans & Atmosphere &

NOAA AdministratorApril 25, 2007

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Menu

NOAA’s Mission and Goals

Importance of Space Weather

Future Goals

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NOAA’s Vision

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NOAA’s Mission

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Why is Space Weather Important?

Power Grids North American Electric

Reliability Corp. (NERC)—the nation’s Electric Reliability Organization (ERO)

Communications New interest in HF

communications

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Why is Space Weather Important?

Power Grids North American Electric

Reliability Corp. (NERC)—the nation’s Electric Reliability Organization (ERO)

Communications New interest in HF

communications

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Continuing a Legacy of Service

Surveying and Navigation Changing needs

US Total Electron Content (US-TEC) product

Used to estimate the GPS signal delay due to the ionospheric electron content between a receiver and a GPS satellite.

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Serving the NationNOAA’s involvement in Space Weather

Space Weather Is important for: Overseeing the Research to

Operations Process Linking Space Weather and

Terrestrial Weather Ensuring the resiliency of our

technological infrastructure to natural hazards

Hazards that impact the launch and operation of on-orbit satellites

The continued vitality of aviation Development of a commercial

space industry

NOAA’s Space Environment Center

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Serving the NationCommercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004

The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004

FAA define medical requirements for passengers Space Weather will be included

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Serving the NationCreating a sustainable Space Program

Building hazard-resilient communities is a high-level priority considered NOAA-wide in nature.

NOAA Annual Guidance Memorandum FY2009–2013

The concept of a hazard-resilient community can be extended to include the high-tech community.

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The Future of Space WeatherFunding Challenges

Space Weather Funding has been fairly stagnant

Ranges from 4-7 millionNOAA Space Environment Center

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007Fiscal Year

Fund

ing

($M)

*

*FY007 funding is the NOAA spend plan, final numbers enacted by Congress are TBD.

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$64.2 $64.4$71.3 $74.3

$82.7$88.8

$0

$10

$20

$30

$40

$50

$60

$70

$80

$90

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Rese

rve (in

Bill

ions

)

Why is Space Weather Important?

An ever-growing dependence on space-based technology will result in an increasing need for space weather services

Space weather services will be increasingly critical as satellite systems apply the rapidly increasing advances in technology

World satellite industry revenues had average annual growth of 6.7% for the

period 2000-2005

Satellite Industry Association

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The Future of Space WeatherPartnerships

“A US multi-agency partnership to enable, support, and perform the

research and development for next generation space science and space

weather models”

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Interagency Collaboration

Solar Cycle 24 Prediction Panel

STEREO Beacon

Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP)

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The Future of Space Weather GEOSS: Global Earth Observation System of Systems

A distributed system of systems Improves coordination of

strategies and observation systems

Links all platforms: in situ, aircraft, and satellite networks

Identifies gaps in our global capacity

Facilitates exchange of data and information

Improves decision-makers’ abilities to address pressing policy issues

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The Future of Space Weather GEOSS: Global Earth Observation System of Systems

A distributed system of systems Improves coordination of

strategies and observation systems

Links all platforms: in situ, aircraft, and satellite networks

Identifies gaps in our global capacity

Facilitates exchange of data and information

Improves decision-makers’ abilities to address pressing policy issues

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Intersection of Public Sector & Private Sector Needs

How do we get the “biggest bang for the buck”?

Prioritize needs based on benefits

Target resources to highest priorities

Leverage existing activities and investments

Questions?Questions?