NSF NCAR Public Science Talk: Keeping space safe

The U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) invites you to the Mesa Lab for an Explorer Series lecture, “Keeping space safe: Understanding the impacts of space weather on satellite orbits” on Wednesday, March 11 from 7:00-8:30 pm (MT). This event will be a live hybrid webcast with options to attend in person at the NSF NCAR Mesa Laboratory or virtually. Please register and tell us if you will be attending in person or online. This will allow you to receive email reminders. All attendees will receive an email with the link to the webcast and details on how to participate.

Event summary: Space may seem incredibly vast, but it is becoming crowded with satellites and other “space junk.” With objects traveling at incredibly high speeds, upwards of 15,000 mph, a satellite crashing into even the smallest of objects can be catastrophic. To prevent collisions between objects, we need to predict the weather in space, just like we predict the weather on Earth.

In this Explorer Series lecture, Nick Pedatella will describe how conditions in space impact satellites and space debris, and the need to understand the space environment to prevent catastrophic collisions between satellites. He will also explain how researchers at NSF NCAR are working to better manage the traffic in this increasingly crowded region.