| Project Description |
The importance of space weather has been recognized both nationally and globally. Our society depends increasingly on technological infrastructure, including the power grid as well as satellites used for communication and navigation. Such technologies, however, are vulnerable to space weather effects caused by the Sun's variability.
NASA GSFC's Space Weather Center (SWC) (http://science.gsfc.nasa.gov//674/swx_services/swx_services.html) has developed space weather products/capabilities/services that not only respond to NASA's needs but also address broader interests by leveraging the latest scientific research results and state-of-the-art models hosted at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov).
This is an opportunity for highly-motivated and qualified high school students to learn the basic science of space weather and to gain first-hand experience of how scientists/forecasters at NASA/GSFC Space Weather Center carry out analyses needed to predict space weather events and safeguard NASA's assets as well as society's interests at large.
Three interested students will be selected for this opportunity. After basic training in space weather science and operational procedures, along with mock-up space weather event analysis, they will be encouraged to work as a group to carry out the functions/duties of a space weather forecaster. It is our intention to foster their interest/involvement in research related to space weather.
Expected opportunity outcome: an independent space weather forecaster; knowledge about the solar system and impact of the solar storms on the earth's environment and society; interested in further pursuing space weather related scientific research; the decision-making skills and knowledge acquired during the program will be beneficial to any future career pursuit.
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