Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) has primarily been the preserve of military satellites to date but this will change over the next couple of years as new commercial satellite projects start to occupy this region. In 2013 the O3b constellation will be launched. Operating from a orbit of 9000 km, the O3b satellites will be the first commercial satellites to orbit in the slot region. By 2015, it is expected that the first all-electric geosynchronous communication satellite (the Boeing 702SP) will be launched. Whilst the final destination of such satellites will be geosynchronous orbit, the use of electric propulsion for orbit-raising in addition to station-keeping will expose the satellite to the MEO environment for months as opposed to a conventional geosynchronous satellite which would typically complete orbit raising within a few days. Clear commercial advantages exist for all-electric satellites so manufacturers other than Boeing are also expected to propose all-electric satellites as part of their product range in the coming months.
This presentation will provide an overview of developments in the commercial satellite sector that involve the greater use of MEO, consider previous commercial MEO experience and the implications that the prolonged exposure to the MEO environment may have on satellite design. The presentation will finish with an insurers perspective of these developments and an overview of factors that may affect the insurance assessment of such risks.

Modern society depends on a variety of technologies that are susceptible to severe disturbances of the ionosphere and of the near-space environment that are driven by the activity of the Sun. Space weather can adversely affect a wide variety of systems including the space assets such as satellites, manned and unmanned space vehicles and launch vehicles with the addition, although not strictly space assets, of high altitude aviation flights. This study proposes a methodology of forecasting low energy electron population for the study of the effects of the surface charging on spacecraft. We use Inner Magnetosphere Particle Transport and Acceleration Model (IMPTAM), developed by Ganushkina et al. [2001, 2005, 2006], which is a tool to model and forecast the behavior of ring current and radiation belts particles in the inner Earth's magnetosphere.

As a sibling organization of the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), the NASA GSFC Space Weather Center has been operational since March 2010 (http://swc.gsfc.nasa.gov).

By combining forefront space weather science and models, employing an innovative and configurable dissemination system (iSWA.gsfc.nasa.gov), taking advantage of scientific expertise -- both in-house and from the broader community -- as well as fostering and actively participating in multilateral collaborations both nationally and internationally, NASA/GSFC space weather Center is poised to address NASA's space weather needs (and needs of various partners) and to help enhancing space weather forecasting capabilities collaboratively. With a large number of state-of-the-art physics-based models running in real-time covering the whole space weather domain, it offers predictive capabilities and a comprehensive view of space weather events throughout the solar system. In this presentation, we will share our operational experience over the past several major space weather events and how they affected NASA spacecraft throughout the solar system.

Our particular interest in analysis of the radiation environment on Molniya orbit has been motivated by the planned Canadian operational communication and weather space mission which would also include operational particle detectors.
Because the meteorological payload would have to sustain such a diverse radiation environment, its detailed statistical analysis based on data will give better representation of in-flight conditions than widely used AE-8, AP-8 models. These models do not always adequately represent environment on Molniya orbit, while improved models, such as AE9/AP9, are not available for users yet.
Here we present results of statistical analysis of dose rate variability on Molniya orbit, based on HEO-3 data, which includes inner-slot-outer radiation belt regions as well as open field lines affected by transient events (solar energetic particles). To explain the possible source of variability, the behaviour of particular energetic particles (protons and electrons) was also analysed when needed.