[bearnard1212 (OP)]

UK is about to lauch it`s own space weather forecasting satellite which is called SWIMMR. The four year programme (2019-2023) is focusing on reducing the potential radiation hazards of space weather to satellites and aviation operations, mitigating potential space weather effects on communication and global positioning. What is your expectation from this program?

[Bored chemist]

What is the point of the UK space weather forecasting satellite?
Reducing the potential radiation hazards of space weather to satellites and aviation operations, mitigating potential space weather effects on communication and global positioning.

[alancalverd]

It will be interesting to see how you can forecast space weather since nearly all of it comes from one source, so you have to stare at the sun and correlate showers of particles with electromagnetic signals that arrived a few minutes earlier, then predict where the charged particles are going to interact with the magnetosphere.

Quite different from terrestrial weather, which has a relatively constant heat input to an inherently chaotic system, whereas the sun is a chaotic source of  high energy radiations of all sorts which interact with a well-mapped magnetic field.

[evan_au]

a well-mapped magnetic field.

The problem with this well-mapped field is that when it reaches out into space, it gets pushed around by eddies and outbursts in the Solar wind plasma, pushing it into poorly understood shapes, and maybe breaking off pieces of it.

UK is about to launch it`s own space weather forecasting satellite which is called SWIMMR

If you check the following link, it appears that SWIMMR is a multi-faceted programme, many parts of which aren't on a satellite.
- One part is looking looking at how the upper atmosphere expands when it is struck by a solar outburst. The ISS is in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), and normally drops about 100m per day due to atmospheric drag. But due to sudden solar activity, on one occasion it dropped by many kilometers in one day, and they had to give it an immediate altitude boost.

site:https://gtr.ukri.org/ SWIMMR

What is your expectation from this program?

The UK has an established space industry, often producing specialized instruments as payload for other satellites.
- It's not yet clear to what extent the UK will remain as part of ESA, and able to "piggy-back" on ESA launches
- So I guess it is worthwhile to gain experience managing development of a whole satellite

[bearnard1212 (OP)]

What is the point of the UK space weather forecasting satellite?
Reducing the potential radiation hazards of space weather to satellites and aviation operations, mitigating potential space weather effects on communication and global positioning.

This program is about to dismiss the potential risks of space weather to electric power distribution. Moreover, as far as you may know space weather has an affect on technology we have on Earth and technology in space like satellites and ISS the work of which can be interrupted by space weather affect.

[bearnard1212 (OP)]

a well-mapped magnetic field.

The problem with this well-mapped field is that when it reaches out into space, it gets pushed around by eddies and outbursts in the Solar wind plasma, pushing it into poorly understood shapes, and maybe breaking off pieces of it.

UK is about to launch it`s own space weather forecasting satellite which is called SWIMMR

If you check the following link, it appears that SWIMMR is a multi-faceted programme, many parts of which aren't on a satellite.
- One part is looking looking at how the upper atmosphere expands when it is struck by a solar outburst. The ISS is in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), and normally drops about 100m per day due to atmospheric drag. But due to sudden solar activity, on one occasion it dropped by many kilometers in one day, and they had to give it an immediate altitude boost.

site:https://gtr.ukri.org/ SWIMMR

What is your expectation from this program?

The UK has an established space industry, often producing specialized instruments as payload for other satellites.
- It's not yet clear to what extent the UK will remain as part of ESA, and able to "piggy-back" on ESA launches
- So I guess it is worthwhile to gain experience managing development of a whole satellite

Yeah, you are SWIMMR is a multi-faceted programme but the main purpose why UK Boosting Space Weather Research is to increase the UK's forecast capability when it comes to solar superstorms and other extreme space weather events.

[alancalverd]

This program is about to dismiss the potential risks of space weather to electric power distribution.

Unlikely. If there is a discovered correlation, it underlines the risk. If there is no discovered correlation, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

It is worth considering that the supposed benefits of  "smart metering"  depend on data transmission, so reduce the robustness of the grid by introducing a vulnerable source of error.

[Bored chemist]

It will be interesting to see how you can forecast space weather since nearly all of it comes from one source, so you have to stare at the sun and correlate showers of particles with electromagnetic signals that arrived a few minutes earlier, then predict where the charged particles are going to interact with the magnetosphere.

Quite different from terrestrial weather, which has a relatively constant heat input to an inherently chaotic system, whereas the sun is a chaotic source of  high energy radiations of all sorts which interact with a well-mapped magnetic field.

If predicting solar "weather " was easy, we wouldn't have called it "weather".

[evan_au]

"smart metering"  depend on data transmission, so reduce the robustness of the grid by introducing a vulnerable source of error.

Smart metering of residences and businesses is not a time-critical part of grid operation - as long as the bill arrives within a month of the due date, the grid will keep running.
- This is quite unlike grid protection equipment, which have to detect downed transmission lines within a second, and cut off power to the feeder

Perhaps what you are thinking of is "smart grid" concepts, where people turn off less-important appliances when requested, and people with home solar and batteries (and/or electric car) contribute power to the grid when needed.
- This really does depend on near-real-time communication (seconds to minutes) to prop up the grid.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid

[bearnard1212 (OP)]

It will be interesting to see how you can forecast space weather since nearly all of it comes from one source, so you have to stare at the sun and correlate showers of particles with electromagnetic signals that arrived a few minutes earlier, then predict where the charged particles are going to interact with the magnetosphere.

Quite different from terrestrial weather, which has a relatively constant heat input to an inherently chaotic system, whereas the sun is a chaotic source of  high energy radiations of all sorts which interact with a well-mapped magnetic field.

If predicting solar "weather " was easy, we wouldn't have called it "weather".

But still, as we can see space weather forecasting technology is developing rapidly as actually whole technology in space developing area. Yeah, I agree that space weather forecasting is a hard stuff to do but we need to have this job done for our further space exploration missions.