Space Weather
The interactions between the Sun and Earth can result in hazards to technology and people in space and on the ground. Our research seeks to understand and predict these hazards.
Space weather is a critical natural hazard with the capacity to cause wide-spread disruption to technology in space and on the ground. It is recognised as a national risk by countries world-wide, including the UK. Driven by the interaction of the magnetosphere and ionosphere with the solar wind and the Sun, plasma in Earth’s space environment can become highly energised, and large electric currents can couple energy from space into the upper atmosphere and to the ground.
Our research focuses on predicting how and when hazardous space conditions arise, using machine-learning and other forecasting techniques. In this endeavour, we are working with key space weather stakeholders in the UK and world-wide.
The MSSL Space Plasma Physics group leads the development and building of the Plasma Analyser (PLA) instrument on board ESA’s Vigil mission. Vigil is an operational space-weather mission that will launch in 2031. Its orbit will place Vigil at a unique vantage point (called “L5”) from where its instruments can observe the Sun-Earth line and track plasma structures from along their way to Earth. Our PLA instrument will measure the plasma of the solar wind at the location of Vigil.
