Space Weather Prediction Center

Forecasters inside the SWPC.
Agency overview
Preceding	Space Environment Center
Headquarters	39°59′30″N 105°15′40″W / 39.991618°N 105.261188°W / 39.991618; -105.261188
Parent agency	National Centers for Environmental Prediction
Website	www.swpc.noaa.gov

Part of a series on the
United States space program
NASA U.S. Space Force
Human spaceflight programs Mercury Gemini Apollo Skylab Space Shuttle Shuttle–Mir International Space Station Commercial Crew Constellation Artemis Lunar Gateway
Robotic spaceflight programs CRS Explorers GLS Large Strategic Lunar Orbiter Lunar Precursor Mariner Mars Exploration New Millennium Pioneer Planetary Missions Discovery New Frontiers Solar System Exploration Planetary Observer Ranger Surveyor Vanguard Viking Voyager X-37
NASA Astronaut Corps Mercury Gemini Apollo Space Shuttle
Spaceports Eastern Range Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Kennedy Space Center Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska Western Range Vandenberg Space Force Base
Space launch vehicles Alpha Antares Atlas V Delta IV Heavy Electron Falcon 9 Full Thrust Falcon Heavy LauncherOne Minotaur I III IV V C New Glenn New Shepard Pegasus Space Launch System Starship Vulcan Centaur
National security space United States Space Force National Reconnaissance Office United States Space Command
Civil space Department of Energy national laboratories Federal Aviation Administration Office of Commercial Space Transportation National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service Office of Space Commerce Space Weather Prediction Center Department of State Office of Space Affairs Office of Science and Technology Policy
Commercial space industry Astra Ball Aerospace Bigelow Aerospace Blue Origin Boeing Firefly Aerospace Lockheed Martin Raytheon Rocket Lab Northrop Grumman Sierra Nevada Corporation SpaceX SSL United Launch Alliance Virgin Galactic Virgin Orbit

The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), named the Space Environment Center (SEC) until 2007,^[1] is a laboratory and service center of the US National Weather Service (NWS), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), located in Boulder, Colorado.^[2] SWPC continually monitors and forecasts Earth's space environment, providing solar-terrestrial information. SWPC is the official source of space weather alerts and warnings for the United States.

Description

The Space Weather Prediction Center is one of the nine National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and provides real-time monitoring and forecasting of solar and geophysical events, conducts research in solar-terrestrial physics (i.e. heliophysics), and develops techniques for forecasting solar and geophysical disturbances. The SWPC Forecast Center is jointly operated by NOAA and the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and is the national and world warning center for disturbances that can affect people and equipment working in the space environment. SWPC works with many national and international partners who contribute data and observations.

A few of the agencies and industry that rely on SWPC services:

• U.S. power grid infrastructure
• Commercial airline industry
• Department of Transportation (use of GPS)
• NASA human space flight activities (NASA relies on SWPC data to protect the $1 billion arm on the International Space Station (ISS))
• Satellite launch and operations
• U.S. Space Force operational support
• Commercial and public users (more than half a million hits per day on SWPC web sites)

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires dispatchers to take into consideration HF communication degradation for each dispatched polar flight. Flights can be diverted based on SWPC solar radiation alerts if air traffic control (ATC) communication is compromised, with estimated costs as high as $100K per flight. A 23-day period in 2001 saw 25 flights diverted due to such radio blackouts.

Forecast limitations

The Center does not issue atmospheric density forecasts for commercial space launches. The loss of 38 Starlink satellites in February 2022 prompted scientists to call for it to do so.^[3]

See also

• Coronal mass ejection (CME)
• Spaceflight Meteorology Group (SMG)
• Boulder Geomagnetic Observatory (BOU)

Notes

External links

• Space Weather Prediction Center