LOFAR4SpaceWeather (LOFAR4SW) Increasing European Space-Weather Capability with Europes Largest Radio Telescope: Completing the Critical Design Review (CDR)

Space Weather research, monitoring, and operations are a very important topics from the scientific, operational, and societal-impacts points of view. Knowledge of interactions in the Sun-Earth system, the physics behind observed space-weather phenomena, and its direct impact on modern technologies are key areas of interest. This involves all aspects of political, user, forecaster, and scientific engagement with various stakeholders with the full recognition that space weather is a worldwide threat with varied local, regional, continent-wide impacts, and global impacts. The LOFAR For Space Weather (LOFAR4SW) project (see: http://lofar4sw.eu/) is a Horizon 2020 (H2020) INFRADEV design study to undertake investigations and perform a design study into the upgrading of the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR). The project aims to prepare a novel design pathway which can bring new capabilities into the space-weather domain. LOFAR is presently the world's largest low frequency radio telescope consisting of a dense core of 24 stations near Exloo in The Netherlands, an additional 14 stations spread across the northeast Netherlands, and a further 14 stations based internationally across Europe. These international stations are six across Germany, three in northern Poland, and one each in France, Ireland, Latvia, Sweden, and the UK. Further sites are being planned across Europe. The final design of LOFAR4SW will provide a comprehensive conceptual and technical description of the necessary LOFAR upgrades needed to enable simultaneous operation as a radio telescope for astronomical research as well as an infrastructure working for space-weather studies and monitoring. In this work we present the overview of the LOFAR4SW project, examples of its capabilities and will summarise the outcomes of the Critical Design Review (CDR) planned to be held virtually 21-23 September 2021. A fully-envisage longer-term goal of enable a LOFAR4SW update would make LOFAR one of Europes most-comprehensive space-weather observing systems capable of shedding new light on several aspects of the space-weather system, from the Sun to the solar wind to Jupiter and Earths ionosphere.