Investigating Space Weather Events Impacting the Spitzer Space Telescope

Abstract

Our understanding of the dynamical process in the space environment has increased dramatically. A relatively new field of study called "Space Weather" has emerged in the last few decades. Fundamental to the study of space weather is an understanding of how space weather events such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections impact spacecraft in varying orbits and distances around the Sun. Specialized space weather satellite monitoring systems operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) allow scientists to predict space weather events affecting critical systems on and orbiting the Earth. However, the Spitzer Space Telescope is in an orbit far outside the areas covered by those space weather monitoring systems. This poses a challenge for the Spitzer 's Mission Operations Team in determining whether space weather events affect Spitzer. In order to form a coherent assessment of the space environment around the Spitzer spacecraft, the Spitzer Mission Operations Team must integrate real-time data collected from multiple space weather monitoring systems and analyze models and predictions based on those data. The Spitzer Mission Operations Team integrates those with the observed effects of space-weather-driven energetic particles that impact multiple subsystems on the Spitzer spacecraft, including the Mass Memory Card, the Star Tracker Assembly, the Solar Array, and Spitzer's main science instrument, the Infrared Array Camera. The Spitzer Mission Operations Team's analysis of space weather events has demonstrated that a spacecraft whose primary function is not space weather can act as a space weather monitor. This is especially important for future astronomical and planetary missions whose orbits reach far beyond the Earth. Finally, the Spitzer Mission Operations Team can provide results to NASA and NOAA scientists and allow them to further refine their space weather models.

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