Geospace Dynamics Constellation: The Mission We Need for Our New Era of Access to LEO

Our look at space weather in the Ionosphere-Thermosphere system is severely data constrained. Research using past space weather missions in this region, such as DMSP, have been further constrained by lack of data availability. The Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC), currently in the planning stages, is going to address these needs by providing the first comprehensive, global measurements of the space weather environment in the ionosphere and thermosphere. GDC is a six-satellite mission to characterize the ionosphere-thermosphere system and its geomagnetic drivers from an altitude of about 375 km. This mission will make unprecedented measurements of the ionospheric and thermospheric density, composition, and temperature, magnetic and electric fields, and ionospheric variability. Our increasing dependence on space for both defense and commercial needs makes necessary the new, comprehensive look at the ionosphere-thermosphere region that the GDC mission will provide. The multipoint, global data will be made available to operational users in real time, and the scientific data and processing will be openly available to promote advances in space weather research and the use of GDC data. This mission will be a pathfinder for future operational platforms, allowing the ionosphere-thermosphere space weather community to determine the most crucial data and spatial and temporal scales for space weather monitoring and forecasting. It will also drive the development of new operational tools and pipelines that make use of these data streams. We are reaching out to operational users and organizations to identify space weather data products and coordinate reception of the space weather beacon data. Alongside preparations for real-time GDC data streams, we are working to identify current model capabilities and needs, to ensure that space weather models that can make use of GDC measurements are moving along the Research-to-Operations pipeline. In preparation for GDC, the ionosphere-thermosphere space weather community should establish baseline metrics for space weather parameters of scientific and operational interest. These metrics, tracked over time before and after the launch of GDC, will allow us to track advancements in forecasting, nowcasting, and hindcasting of the ITM system and to trace the impact of scientific progress from space weather research into operations. By demonstrating the impact of real-time GDC data, specific data needs can be identified and prioritized for long term investment on future observing systems.