On Wednesday, 3 April 2013, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence (STCE) will present a new European Space Weather facility to the media. The centre is being developed as part of ESA's Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Programme.
This inauguration event will be livestreamed starting at 10:30 CET / 08:30UTC
The SSA Space Weather Coordination Centre will serve as the central access point to a portfolio of European space weather expertise. Located at the Space Pole in Brussels, the SSCC includes the first European space weather helpdesk and, through this, provides rapid access to expert support on solar weather, ionospheric weather, the geomagnetic environment and the orbital radiation environment. This is made possible by networking and building on key European assets and expertise.
Impacts on critical infrastructure in space and on ground
The SSCC is a dedicated room where operators monitor the Sun, the space environment and the Earth environment for possible impacts of space weather on economically vital infrastructure and activities including gas/oil drilling, electric power distribution and navigation, reducing costs and improving reliability and information for citizens.
The programme is expected to include Philippe Mettens, Chairman of the Belgian Science Policy Office, ESA Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations Thomas Reiter, SSA Programme Manager Nicolas Bobrinsky, SSA Space Weather Segment Manager Juha-Pekka Luntama, and Michel Kruglanski, project manager leading the consortium responsible for implementing the SSCC.
Watch the live stream
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