Living with a Star: Opportunities for Geospace Science

In a report released in September of 2002, a NASA appointed panel presented recommendations for the science and implementation goals for the Geospace Project of the Living with a Star (LWS) Program. The primary objective of the project is to: Understand and characterize the effect of solar variability on those geospace phenomena that most affect life and society. The purpose of this presentation is to present to the Sun-Earth Connections science community the framework of the Geospace Missions as NASA plans to implement them, to solicit comments and suggestions from the community, and to provide information on the plans for, and opportunities for participation in, the Geospace element of Living With a Star. NASA plans to deploy a focused set of small spacecraft, instruments on missions of opportunity, collaborations with other programs, and related theory, modeling and data mining activities. The spacecraft would be launched in 2008 and 2010 and would perform sets of inner magnetospheric and ionospheric observations over the next solar maximum when the Earth's near space environment will be most disturbed. Discussion emphasis will be placed upon the measurement requirements and mission characteristics.