The Future of Space Weather Observations: The Space Weather Next Program and the L1 Series Project

Continuing space weather observations needed for space weather forecasting is one of the main goals of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) Office of Space Weather Observations (SWO). SWO is implementing the Space Weather Next (SW Next) program that will provide the continuity of observations from the Lagrange point 1 (L1) and other relevant orbits, such as the Geostationary and Low Earth orbits, as well as Lagrange 5 (L5) in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA). The first project of the SW Next program, already in acquisition, is the L1 Series, composed of two spacecraft, L1-A and L1-B. L1-A, is planned to be launched by 2029, and L1-B is planned to be launched by 2033. The main objective of the SW Next L1 Series project is to provide continuity of observations beyond the Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO)-L1 project, which is planned to launch by mid 2025 with a design life of five years. In this presentation, we will describe the observational requirements from the L1 vantage point, and how they will support the space weather operational users and other scientific services.