NOAA assists NASA Mars mission (Forwarded)

NOAA
Washington, D.C.

Media Contact:
Carmeyia Gillis, NOAA Space Environment Center
(301) 763-8000 ext. 7163

March 3, 2006

NOAA ASSISTS NASA MARS MISSION

Space Environment Center Keeps Close Watch for Solar Storms

The NOAA Space Environment Center, home to the nation's early warning
system for solar storms, is assisting NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Mission as the satellite approaches its critical orbit insertion phase.
The SEC is providing daily briefings to the NASA MRO Mission Operations
Assurance Group as well as providing appropriate warnings and alerts of
space weather.

"This operation presents some significant challenges," said Joe Kunches,
chief of the NOAA Space Environment Center's forecast and analysis branch.
"The greatest issue is the fact that Mars is a long way from Earth, but
more importantly, Mars is facing a different part of the Sun than we
Earthlings."

Currently, the SEC expects space weather conditions to be quiet, and NOAA
forecasters anticipate they will stay that way through the next week.
"Accurate forecasts are imperative," added Kunches. "If the MRO were to
encounter a solar radiation storm while in an operational mode that is
vulnerable to an energetic proton it could cause a computer component to
malfunction and the spacecraft could be lost."

The SEC also provides similar information in a NASA requested space
weather briefing every day for the NASA Space Radiation Analysis Group at
Johnson Space Center. SRAG monitors the radiation environment for the crew
of the International Space Station and astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle
when it is in flight.

The NOAA Space Environment Center is one of the NOAA National Centers for
Environmental Prediction. SEC's 24 hour-a-day, 7 days-a-week operations
are critical in protecting space and ground-based assets. Through the SEC,
NOAA and the U.S. Air Force jointly operate the space weather operations
center that continuously monitors, analyzes and forecasts the environment
between the Sun and Earth. In addition to the data gathered from NOAA and
NASA satellites, the center receives real-time solar and geophysical
information from ground-based observatories around the world. NOAA space
weather forecasters use the data to predict solar and geomagnetic activity
and issue worldwide alerts of significant events.

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated to
enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and
research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental
stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources.

Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS),
NOAA is working with its federal partners and nearly 60 countries to
develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it
observes.

Relevant Web Sites:

* NOAA Space Environment Center
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/
* NOAA Solar X-ray Imager -- Latest Images of the Sun
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/sxi/

IMAGE CAPTION:
[http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories...2006-1642z.jpg
(57KB)]
NOAA image of the Sun taken at 11:42 a.m. EST on March 3, 2006. Credit:
NOAA.