NASA selects CU’s LASP research institute to study how Earth and space weather connect

Twin satellites will be utilized to study how changes in Earth’s lower atmosphere influences the upper atmosphere

The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU) has been selected by NASA for a mission concept to investigate space weather surrounding Earth and how that system connects to the planet’s atmosphere.

According to a press release from CU, the science mission will “improve prediction capabilities for understanding the impacts of space weather on technology, such as GPS and low Earth orbit satellites, as well as protecting astronauts in space, and will benefit society as a whole.”

In June 2024 NASA selected three proposals from three university teams for concept studies of missions to investigate the complex system of space weather that surrounds our planet and how it’s connected to Earth’s atmosphere.

One of those teams is LASP and CU researcher Aimee Merkel’s team.

At that time NASA said the three concepts proposed how to enact the Dynamical Neutral Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling (DYNAMIC) mission, which was recommended by the 2013 Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics. 

NASA said the DYNAMIC mission is designed to study how changes in Earth’s lower atmosphere influence our planet’s upper atmosphere, where space weather like auroras and satellite disruptions are manifested.

Mission progress and logistics

CU said NASA recently announced the DAPHNE (Dynamic Atmosphere-Ionosphere Explorer) mission will enter Phase B of development, which includes planning and design for flight and mission operations.

According to CU, DAPHNE will use identical twin satellites to study how changes in Earth’s lower atmosphere influence the upper atmosphere, where space weather is manifested.

“This mission has been called out as a top priority in the most recent Heliophysics Decadal Survey from the National Academy of Sciences,” CU said.

The mission has support from the university’s chancellor as well.

“This mission has wide-ranging implications for human spaceflight and technology,” CU Boulder Chancellor Justin Schwartz said about the mission concept. “LASP and CU Boulder are honored to partner with NASA on such an important flight project for our country.”

According to CU, each spacecraft will be equipped with three remote-sensing instruments: MIGHTI, FUVI, and PLATO.

“Together, the instruments will provide coordinated, multi-point measurements of neutral winds, temperature, and composition in very low Earth orbit, a region where Earth’s atmosphere transitions into charged particles,” CU said. “In this thin shell that surrounds our planet, the atmosphere is in constant motion, shaped by solar activity and changes in the lower atmosphere. The observations from the DAPHNE mission will incorporate data from the lower atmospheric region to advance space weather predictive capabilities.” 

Merkel weighed in on the mission announcement as well.

“Scientists have long studied how space weather affects Earth, but much less is known about how Earth’s lower atmosphere affects the upper atmosphere and space weather,” Merkel said. “DAPHNE will fill this major gap in scientific understanding and help answer long-standing questions about how Earth interacts with our sun. The DAPHNE team is very excited to get started, and we thank NASA for the opportunity to investigate this region that is critical to modern technology and human spaceflight.”

CU said the mission is a low-risk, high-heritage, high-data-return investigation leveraging a diverse team of experts in space science research, mission management and engineering.

The mission is still subject to a confirmation review in 2027, which will assess the progress of the mission and the availability of funds.

However, if confirmed CU said, the total estimated cost of the mission, excluding launch, will not exceed $250 million in fiscal year 2023 dollars and a mission launch date of no earlier than 2029.

Major partners for the mission include BAE Systems in Boulder, and the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

CU said the DAPHNE mission was proposed as a concept study in response to the DYNAMIC (Dynamical Neutral Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling) mission announcement of opportunity. Funding and management oversight for this mission is provided by the Solar Terrestrial Probes program at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.