NOAAs Space Weather Follow On Program to Continue Critical Space Weather Measurements

The NOAA SWFO Program will ensure continuity of space weather operational Solar Wind and Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) data beyond NOAAs Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) and NASA-European Space Agency research Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) which are well past their design life. The SWFO Program includes a SWFO-L1 observatory which will host a Solar Wind Plasma Sensor (SWiPS), a Magnetometer, a SupraThermal Ion Sensor (STIS), a Compact Coronagraph (CCOR) and an X-ray Flux Monitor (XFM) contributed by the European Space Agency (ESA). The program also supports the integration of a CCOR on the GOES-U spacecraft. Flying a second CCOR in a geostationary orbit adds operational resilience and reliability to the CME imagery necessary for space weather warnings and forecasting. NOAA will build and operate a robust ground architecture. The SWFO Program will take advantage of a rideshare launch opportunity with NASAs Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission currently scheduled for FY 2025. All the Program major procurements have been completed and the SWFO Program just completed the Key Decision Point-B (KPD-B) in the Program life-cycle.