Modelling the acceleration, transport and loss of radiation belt electrons to protect satellites from space weather (Rad-Sat)

Lead Research Organisation: Imperial College London
Department Name: Physics

Abstract

Over the last 10 years the number of operational satellites in orbit has grown from 450 to more than 1300. We rely on these satellites more than ever before for a wide range of applications such as mobile phones, TV signals, internet, navigation and financial services. All these satellites must be designed to withstand the harsh radiation environment in space for a design life that can be as long as 15 years or more. Space weather events can increase electron radiation levels by five orders of magnitude in the Earth's Van Allen radiation belts causing satellite charging, disruption to satellite operations and sometimes satellite loss. For example, in 2003 it was estimated that at least 10% of all operational satellites suffered anomalies (malfunctions1) during a large space weather event known as the Halloween storm. It is therefore important to understand how and why radiation levels vary so much so that engineers and business can assess impact and develop mitigation measures. New results from the NASA Van Allen Probes and THEMIS satellite missions show that wave-particle interactions play the major role in the acceleration, transport and loss of high energy electrons and hence the variability of the radiation belts. This proposal brings together scientists from across the UK with stakeholders from the insurance and satellite services sector. We will process data from scientific satellites such as Van Allen Probes and THEMIS to obtain information on four very important type of waves known as magnetosonic waves, and radio-waves known as plasmaspheric hiss, lightning generated whistlers and transmitter waves. We will use data, theory and models to determine the properties of the waves and how they vary during space weather events. We will conduct studies to assess the acceleration, transport and loss of electrons due to each wave type using quasi-linear theory. We will use simulations to test whether nonlinear effects result in more particle acceleration and loss compared to quasi-linear theory. We will analyse compressional magnetosonic waves in the ultra-low frequency range and determine their effectiveness for transporting electrons across the magnetic field, and whether the transport is diffusive or not. We will incorporate the results of these studies into our state-of-the-art global radiation belt model to simulate known space weather events, and compare the results against data to highlight the importance of the waves and improve the model. We will also include local time effects and compare loss rates against data from the ground and other satellites to constrain the model. We will simulate extreme space weather events using our existing radiation belt model, and an MHD model so that we can assess the role of waves in the rapid formation of a radiation belt such as occurred in 1991 in less than 2 minutes. We will develop a stakeholder community consisting of space insurance, satellite operators and forecasters who will provide input to our research and who will use the results for risk assessment, anomaly resolution and operational planning. The project will deliver new processed data, a better forecasting capability and expertise that will support the UK Government assessment of severe space weather for the National Risk Register2 and the growth of the satellite industry.

1. Cannon, P, S., et al. (2013), Extreme Space Weather: Impacts on Engineered Systems and Infrastructure, Royal Academy of Engineering, London, SW1A 2WH.
2. Cabinet Office, (2012), National risk register of civil emergencies, Whitehall, London SW1A 2WH, www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

Planned Impact

We have identified the following non-academic users who will benefit from our research:

Space insurance

One of the outputs of our research will be a set of radiation belt models which can be used to re-create the space radiation environment for severe space weather events that damage spacecraft. In their letter of support the Atrium Space Insurance Consortium have listed 4 ways in which they will benefit, including "further information to ensure the Lloyds Realistic Disaster Scenarios are accurate and that sufficient reserves are being made to cover the potential worst case insurance losses". Space insurance may also benefit from an independent assessment of the radiation environment for anomaly resolution.

Satellite construction companies

Satellite designers must protect satellites from the harsh radiation environment in space. They use models of the radiation environment to design for the 'reasonable worst case' but there is a very large uncertainty. Our research will simulate three different types of realistic worst case events, and will provide the radiation environment for medium Earth orbit for any part of the solar cycle. Satellite designers will be able to use our results to assess the amount of shielding needed to protect satellites, particularly for electric orbit raising and medium Earth orbit where there is relatively little radiation data.

Satellite operators

Satellite operators have an interest in the safe and reliable operation of their spacecraft. Space weather events can cause satellite anomalies (malfunctions) resulting in loss of service and in some cases total satellite loss. It can also mean a delay in reaching orbit and lost revenue if an anomaly affects electric orbit raising. Our research will lead to a step-change in space weather forecasting which will provide satellite operators with space weather situation awareness. This will enable them to plan mitigating action, for example, to suspend orbit manoeuvres and software updates, to ensure more staff are available to deal with problems, to have back-up systems immediately available, and when appropriate to inform users that some services may be at risk. Satellite operators will also benefit by using the results of our case studies of particular events to help identify the cause of a satellite anomaly.

Space Weather forecasting

The UK Met Office and the European Space Agency (ESA) are developing a system of forecasting all types of space weather. Our research will include new processes into our state-of-the-art forecasting models which will enable a step-change in our forecasting capability. Subject to further agreement, the Met Office and the ESA will benefit by turning our prototype forecasting system into a fully operational system for the satellite services sector.

General public

It is widely acknowledged that space research attracts young people into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM subjects). The press coverage of the UK Astronaut Tim Peak and the International Space Station, is compelling evidence of the public's interest in space research. Our dissemination activities to schools and the public will help attract young people into the STEM subjects.

Policy makers

Extreme space weather was put on the UK National Risk Register in 2012 and revised in 2014. The UK Department of Energy and Industrial Strategy (DEIS) 'owns' the risk and is developing contingency plans to mitigate the impact of severe space weather. The Department will benefit from our research which will help define scenarios for severe space weather events, and how long they may last, and will provide the radiation environment needed for further impact assessment by engineers and business. The PI (Richard Horne) is a member of the Space Environment Impacts Expert Group (SEIEG) and will be able to provide advice to Government through this Group at meetings with DEIS.

Publications

10 25 50
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Mejnertsen L (2021) Control of Magnetopause Flux Rope Topology by Non-local Reconnection in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences

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Eggington J (2018) Forging links in Earth's plasma environment in Astronomy & Geophysics

 
Description Within the overall Rad-Sat project activity, Imperial College contributed to the work-package on forecasting severe space weather events and the immediate formation of new radiation belts in response to extreme solar wind driving. A specific goal was to examine extreme event forecasting, by combining the Gorgon magnetospheric simulation with novel test-particle simulations to simulate the rapid radiation belt formation that cannot be captured by other approaches.

The most significant achievement from the award relates to the development of this capability, including both MHD modelling of extreme event arrival [e.g. Desai et al., 2021], and test-particle simulation of the radiation belts [Desai et al., 2022]. Other key achievements include the development of solar wind simulation capability to predict the drivers of extreme radiation belt variation [Desai et al., 2020], application of this physics to other areas of solar system research [Zhang et al. 2021, Mihailescu et al., 2020, Roussos et al., 2021] and contributions to space weather reasonable worst-case scenarios (to be used by the UK Government) [Hapgood et al., 2021].

The award objectives were met, and further publications are expected reporting on the work that has been completed.
Exploitation Route These findings will be taken forward by the international space weather community, and have contributed to activities in, for example, the UKRI SWIMMR (Space Weather Instrumentation, Measurement, Modelling and Risk) programme.
Sectors Aerospace

Defence and Marine

Education

Environment

Financial Services

and Management Consultancy

Government

Democracy and Justice

 
Description The primary non-academic impact of this work has been the further development of capabilities in space weather modelling which are now being applied to space weather operational forecasting and monitoring. A second non-academic impact has been to inform Government about the space weather risk, in the provision of reasonable worst-case scenarios [Hapgood et al., 2021].
First Year Of Impact 2021
Sector Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Education,Energy,Environment,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Government, Democracy and Justice
Impact Types Societal

Economic

Policy & public services

 
Description Satellite Radiation Risk Forecasts (Sat-Risk)
Amount £71,118 (GBP)
Funding ID NE/V003062/1 
Organisation Natural Environment Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2020 
End 05/2024
 
Title Four Gorgon Global-MHD simulations of Fast Forward Interplanetary Shocks interacting with the Earth's magnetosphere 
Description This dataset contains the data produced by four Gorgon Global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of Fast-Forward Interplanetary Shocks of increasing strengths interacting with the Earth's magnetosphere, as described in the study of Desai et al. (2021). Further description of the Gorgon MHD model can be found at Mejnertsen et al., (2016,2018) and Eggington et al., (2020). The data was produced on the Imperial College High Performance Computing Service (doi: 10.14469/hpc/2232). The MHD equations were solved in the magnetosphere on a regular 3-D cartesian grid of resolution 0.5 Earth radii (RE), covering a domain of dimensions (-20,100) RE in X, (-40,40) RE in Y and (-40,40) RE in Z with an inner boundary at 3 RE. In this coordinate system the Sun lies in the negative X-direction, the Z axis is aligned to the dipole in the 0 degree tilt case (where positive tilt points the north magnetic pole towards the Sun), and Y completes the right-handed set. Output data is timestamped in seconds and is defined at the centre of the grid cells. The simulation data corresponding to each shock are stored in separate directories 'ShockX' where X=I-IV. The data are stored in hdf5 format. The magnetospheric variables are stored in the files: 'Gorgon_[YYYYMMDD]_MS_params_[XXXXX]s.hdf5' where XXXXX is the simulation time in seconds. The magnetospheric data includes the magnetic field, ('Bvec_c'), velocity, ('vvec'), plasma density, ('rho1'), and ion temperature, ('Ti'), after 2h of simulation, over the course of 10 minutes. The data for the magnetic field, ('Bvec_c'), and velocity, ('vvec'), are of shape (240,160,160,3) where the first 3 dimensions are the grid indices in (X,Y,Z) indexed from negative to positive, and the final dimension is the cartesian vector component in (i,j,k). The data for the density, ('rho1'), and ion temperature, ('Ti'), is of shape (240,160,160) where the first 3 dimensions are the grid indices in (X,Y,Z) indexed from negative to positive. Funding was provided by NERC Highlight grant to NE/P017347/1 (Rad-Sat) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact This dataset was used to support the publication Desai et al 2021 
URL https://data.bas.ac.uk/full-record.php?id=GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01485
 
Title Two Gorgon Global-MHD simulations of steady solar wind conditions 
Description This dataset contains data produced by two Gorgon Global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations with steady solar wind conditions interacting with the Earth's magnetosphere, as utilised in the study of Desai et al. (2021b). Further description of the Gorgon MHD model can be found at Mejnertsen et al., (2016,2018), Eggington et al., (2020) and Desai et al., (2021a). The data was produced on the Imperial College High Performance Computing Service (doi: 10.14469/hpc/2232). Two MHD simulations are contained; one with northward Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) conditions and one with southward (IMF) conditions. The northward IMF condition is run with a grid resolution of 0.25 earth radii (RE) and the southward IMF conditions is run three times for grid resolutions of 0.5, 0.25 and 0.125 RE. The MHD equations were solved in the magnetosphere on a regular 3-D Cartesian grid, covering a domain of dimensions (-20,100) RE in X, (-40,40) RE in Y and (-40,40) RE in Z with an inner boundary at 3 RE. In this coordinate system the Sun lies in the negative X-direction, the Z axis is aligned to the dipole in the 0 degree tilt case (where positive tilt points the north magnetic pole towards the Sun), and Y completes the right-handed set. Output data is timestamped in seconds and is defined at the centre of the grid cells. The simulation data corresponding to each shock are stored in separate directories 'NorthwardX' and 'SouthwardX' where X is the grid resolution in RE of: 0.5 for the northward case and 0.5, 0.25 and 0.125 for the southward case. The data are stored in hdf5 format. The magnetospheric variables are stored in the files: 'Gorgon_[YYYYMMDD]_MS_params_[XXXXX]s.hdf5' where XXXXX is the simulation time in seconds. The magnetospheric data includes the magnetic field, ('Bvec_c') and Electric field, ('Evec'), after 2hrs of simulation. The data are of shape (240,160,160,3) where the first 3 dimensions are the grid indices in (X,Y,Z) indexed from negative to positive, and the final dimension is the cartesian vector component in (i,j,k). Funding was provided by NERC Highlight grant to NE/P017347/1 (Rad-Sat). 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact This data was used to support the publication Desai et al., 2021b 
URL https://data.bas.ac.uk/full-record.php?id=GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01531
 
Description RADSAT team 
Organisation British Antarctic Survey
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This collaborative team refers to the RADSAT project. Our role is to perform radiation belt research for space weather using a combination of theory and modelling.
Collaborator Contribution Other members of the RADSAT team are performing experimental data analysis, theory and modeling in the performance of research related to the project.
Impact Publications include Desai et al. 2021a, 2021b, with impact on the development of space weather forecasting services.
Start Year 2017
 
Description RADSAT team 
Organisation University College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This collaborative team refers to the RADSAT project. Our role is to perform radiation belt research for space weather using a combination of theory and modelling.
Collaborator Contribution Other members of the RADSAT team are performing experimental data analysis, theory and modeling in the performance of research related to the project.
Impact Publications include Desai et al. 2021a, 2021b, with impact on the development of space weather forecasting services.
Start Year 2017
 
Description RADSAT team 
Organisation University of Reading
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This collaborative team refers to the RADSAT project. Our role is to perform radiation belt research for space weather using a combination of theory and modelling.
Collaborator Contribution Other members of the RADSAT team are performing experimental data analysis, theory and modeling in the performance of research related to the project.
Impact Publications include Desai et al. 2021a, 2021b, with impact on the development of space weather forecasting services.
Start Year 2017
 
Description RADSAT team 
Organisation University of Sheffield
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This collaborative team refers to the RADSAT project. Our role is to perform radiation belt research for space weather using a combination of theory and modelling.
Collaborator Contribution Other members of the RADSAT team are performing experimental data analysis, theory and modeling in the performance of research related to the project.
Impact Publications include Desai et al. 2021a, 2021b, with impact on the development of space weather forecasting services.
Start Year 2017
 
Description ABC (Australia) Radio Interview 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Interviewed as part of an ABC Australia radio show on space weather - impact was in general publicity relating to funded research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/sciencefriction/the-apocalypse-part-1-suns-supercharge...
 
Description CSEO SpaceWorks Webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Facebook live event as part of the CSEO 2030 SpaceWorks Webinar series. Online event reached audience of more than 40,000, leading to plans for similar events in future.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://www.facebook.com/CyprusSpaceExplorationOrganisation/videos/438468813794844/
 
Description NY Times Interview 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Interviewed for an article in the New York Times about space weather.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/science/northern-lights-southern-lights.html
 
Description National Geographic (2018) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Interviewed for an article in National Geographic relating to space weather.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/11/why-space-weather-is-being-made-in-lab-solar-wind...
 
Description Pint of Science (2018) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Science communication event as part of Pint of Science to ~80 audience members.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://pintofscience.co.uk/event/hazards-from-space-to-core
 
Description School visit (Sutton) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact Attended a school to talk to year 5 pupils about space science. Teachers reported that it was very interesting and timely based on the work they had been doing in the curriculum.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Science on Stage 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact 100+ pupils from local schools and home-schooled students attended a lecture at the British Museum as part of the Benjamin Franklin house 2019 Science-on-Stage event. Teachers reported a lively and interesting event which enthused the students.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019