Space Weather Operation at KASI with Van Allen Probes Beacon Signals

The Van Allen Probes are the first NASA mission broadcasting real time data in the Earth's radiation belts for space weather operation. Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute has contributed in data receiving from Van Allen Probes with 7 m satellite tracking antenna since 2012 and used the data for space weather operation. It takes approximately 15 minutes from measurements to produce Level 1 data. In this study, we show how the Van Allen Probes data is handled for monitoring space weather conditions at geostationary orbit (GEO) by highlighting the Saint Patrick's Day storm occurred in 2015. During storm time, Probe-A data shows a significant increase of relativistic electron flux at L=3. The electrons diffuse out and results in large increase of > 2MeV electron flux on GEO. By monitoring the radial distribution of energetic electrons, we could predict relativistic electron enhancement events that potentially threat satellite operation. We conclude that the combination of Van Allen Probes and NOAA-GOES data can provide improved space environment information to geostationary satellite operators. In addition, the lessons learned from Van Allen Probes are that more data receiving sites are necessary and data connections should be monitored for operational data service.