SPACE WEATHER: ADVANCING RESEARCH, MONITORING, AND FORECASTING CAPABILITIES JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 23, 2019 Serial No. 116–52 Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 38–122PDF WASHINGTON : 2020 COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas, Chairwoman ZOE LOFGREN, California FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma, DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois Ranking Member SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon MO BROOKS, Alabama AMI BERA, California, BILL POSEY, Florida Vice Chair RANDY WEBER, Texas CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania BRIAN BABIN, Texas LIZZIE FLETCHER, Texas ANDY BIGGS, Arizona HALEY STEVENS, Michigan ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas KENDRA HORN, Oklahoma RALPH NORMAN, South Carolina MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas BRAD SHERMAN, California TROY BALDERSON, Ohio STEVE COHEN, Tennessee PETE OLSON, Texas JERRY MCNERNEY, California ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida PAUL TONKO, New York JIM BAIRD, Indiana BILL FOSTER, Illinois JAIME HERRERA BEUTLER, Washington DON BEYER, Virginia FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida CHARLIE CRIST, Florida GREGORY F. MURPHY, North Carolina SEAN CASTEN, Illinois KATIE HILL, California BEN MCADAMS, Utah JENNIFER WEXTON, Virginia SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT HON. LIZZIE FLETCHER, Texas, Chairwoman SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas, Ranking CONOR LAMB, Pennsylvania Member PAUL TONKO, New York BRIAN BABIN, Texas CHARLIE CRIST, Florida ANTHONY GONZALEZ, Ohio SEAN CASTEN, Illinois FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida BEN MCADAMS, Utah VACANCY DON BEYER, Virginia SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS HON. KENDRA HORN, Oklahoma, Chairwoman ZOE LOFGREN, California BRIAN BABIN, Texas, Ranking Member AMI BERA, California MO BROOKS, Alabama ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado BILL POSEY, Florida DON BEYER, Virginia PETE OLSON, Texas CHARLIE CRIST, Florida MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida KATIE HILL, California JENNIFER WEXTON, Virginia (II) CONTENTS October 23, 2019 Page Hearing Charter ...................................................................................................... 2 Opening Statements Statement by Representative Lizzie Fletcher, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Environment, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ................................................................................................ 9 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 10 Statement by Representative Roger Marshall, Ranking Member, Sub- committee on Environment, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ............................................................................ 10 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 11 Statement by Representative Kendra Horn, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives .................................................................................... 12 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 13 Statement by Representative Brian Babin, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ............................................................................ 14 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 15 Written statement by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, Chairwoman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representa- tives ....................................................................................................................... 16 Witnesses: Mr. Bill Murtagh, Program Coordinator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 17 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 20 Dr. Nicola Fox, Heliophysics Division Director, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 25 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 28 Dr. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., VADM USN (ret.), CEO of GeoOptics, Inc, and former Under-Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator (2001–2008) Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 32 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 34 Dr. Harlan E. Spence, Director, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, and Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Hampshire Written Statement ............................................................................................ 38 Discussion ................................................................................................................. 47 Appendix: Answers to Post-Hearing Questions Mr. Bill Murtagh, Program Coordinator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center .......................................... 66 (III) IV Page Dr. Nicola Fox, Heliophysics Division Director, National Aeronautics and Space Administration .......................................................................................... 78 Dr. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., VADM USN (ret.), CEO of GeoOptics, Inc, and former Under-Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator (2001–2008) ........................................................................................................... 84 Dr. Harlan E. Spence, Director, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, and Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Hampshire ............................................................................................................ 90 SPACE WEATHER: ADVANCING RESEARCH, MONITORING, AND FORECASTING CAPABILITIES WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2019 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT, JOINT WITH THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY, Washington, D.C. The Subcommittees met, pursuant to notice, at 2:42 p.m., in room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Lizzie Fletcher [Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Environment] pre- siding. (1) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Chairwoman FLETCHER. This hearing will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. Good afternoon, and welcome to today’s joint Subcommittee hear- ing on advancing our Nation’s space weather activities. I’m happy to be here with my colleague, Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairwoman Horn, to discuss the important topic of space weather. The term space weather may not be familiar to everyone, but we are aware of some of its more benign examples, such as the north- ern lights. Space weather describes naturally occurring disturb- ances in space that are primarily driven by the sun. These vari- ations in the space environment can negatively impact technology in space such as satellites for weather and GPS, pose health risks to our astronauts, and also affect critical ground-based systems such as electric grids. Despite knowing the potential for these sig- nificant impacts, our ability to forecast space weather events with significant notice is limited at best. Given our society’s dependence on many technologies that could be impacted by space weather events, it’s critically important that we understand both the physical processes that drive these phe- nomena, and how we can forecast them earlier to allow adequate protection of critical assets. For this we need to invest in scientific research and sustained observations. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) is re- sponsible for the civilian forecasting through the National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center, SWPC. The forecasters and scientists at SWPC collect data and observations from their own network of satellites and work in close partnership with other Federal agencies including NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), who we have here today, the U.S. Air Force, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the United States Geologi- cal Survey (USGS), among others. Assets in space provide key data necessary for accurate and timely space weather forecasts. Disruptions in this data due to malfunctions, as we are currently seeing with NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR, satellite, without a long-term redundancy plan puts our critical infrastructure in space and on the ground at risk. A recent study contracted by NOAA on customer needs for space weather products and services found that space weather disturb- ances can impact major sectors of society, including aviation,