MOSCOW, November 20. New methods for analyzing the operation of satellites under the influence of space weather factors were proposed by scientists from NArFU. The result of the research was the creation of an information processing algorithm and application, which, according to the researchers, will increase the service life of small satellites and improve the stability of communications with them. Scientific work was presented at the IX International Conference “Information Technologies and Nanotechnologies”.
Space weather is a set of phenomena and processes that occur in space and affect our planet. According to specialists from the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov (NAFU), this concept includes various changes in solar activity: flares, coronal mass ejections, as well as the influence of galactic cosmic rays.
All these phenomena are potentially dangerous because they can cause magnetic storms, which affect not only weather-dependent people, but also the state of orbital and ground-based technical systems. The effect of space weather is especially pronounced in the polar regions and over the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly. Most disruptions to the electronics of artificial Earth satellites are recorded in these zones, experts said.
The most dangerous territory for orbital aircraft is called the “weather kitchen” – the Arctic, since near the planet’s magnetic poles the Earth’s magnetic field lines close and charged particles accumulate that bombard the surface of the vehicles, scientists explained.
NArFU researchers, in collaboration with colleagues from other domestic universities, analyzed the effect of solar activity on systems of small flying objects. Experts have developed a number of recommendations for spacecraft operators in the face of current changes in space weather.
“”In our work, we analyze two sets of data. The first is information about space weather, regularly received both by ground stations around the world and by spacecraft with specialized equipment. The second element of data is telemetry from small satellites, i.e. about the state of the devices, which they continuously broadcast to Earth,” said Roman Aleshko, professor of the Department of Information Systems and Technologies of the Higher School of Information Technologies and Automated Systems of NArFU.
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Based on the collected materials, specialists are developing a prototype of a unique web application designed to visualize data on telemetry and space phenomena and warn about the occurrence of negative factors.
To develop the research, a team of scientists, with the support of the Innovation Promotion Fund, together with partners from the Sputniks company, the Institute of Nuclear Physics of Moscow State University, and St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, created a small spacecraft ArcticSat-1.
The satellite carries a high-energy particle detector to obtain information about changes in space weather. ArcticSat-1 will be sent into low-Earth orbit in the near future from the Russian Vostochny Cosmodrome.
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