NASA has selected three proposals for the Dynamical Neutral Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling, or DYNAMIC, mission, to conduct studies of the space weather system and its connection to Earth’s atmosphere.
Teams led by the University of Colorado, Boulder and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University will each receive $2 million to conduct nine-month studies to examine how changes in Earth’s lower atmosphere influence the upper atmosphere, where space weather like auroras occurs, NASA said Tuesday.
“While space weather can spark the beautiful auroras across our skies, it also has the potential to cause disruptions for us here on Earth and can be dangerous for our spacecraft and astronauts in space,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
“The DYNAMIC mission will expand our understanding of how Earth itself shapes space weather events that influence our home planet,” Fox said.
A CU Boulder concept study led by principal investigator Tomoko Matsuo will include support from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Haystack Observatory.
Another concept study from the university will be led by principal investigator Aimee Merkel and partners BAE Systems and Naval Research Laboratory.
Virginia Tech will partner with Southwest Research Institute, Space Dynamics Laboratory, Global Atmospheric Technologies and Sciences and Computational Physics on its proposal led by principal investigator Scott Bailey.