Under UMBC’s Strategic Awards for Research Transitions (START) program, the proposal titled “Benchmarking Satellite Orbital Drag During Extreme Magnetic Storms: A Look to the Future with an Eye to the Past” was selected for funding. The PI is Denny Oliveira (673/UMBC), with main collaborator Kevin Delano (673/UMBC) along with collaborators Eftyhia Zesta (NASA/GSFC), Hisashi Hayakawa (Nagoya University), and Shaylah Mutschler and Brandon DiLorenzo (both with Space Environment Technologies). The period of performance is July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025.

From the proposal’s abstract:

“The main goal of this study will be to benchmark thermospheric neutral mass density enhancements and the subsequent satellite orbital drag in low-Earth orbit (LEO) during severe and extreme magnetic storms. We will use a list of events ranging from 1957 onwards with geomagnetic activity represented by traditional geomagnetic indices. Additionally, we will include in our analysis a few tens of events before 1957 with geomagnetic activity explicitly computed with archival magnetometers (some of these events have already been published, and we intend to include more events). Such geomagnetic activity will be used as the driver of a thermospheric empirical model for density determination. The benchmark effects of severe and extreme events will be achieved by quantifying extreme effects represented by thermospheric density enhancements and the subsequent satellite orbital drag, including the arguably most extreme space weather event in history, named the Carrington event of 1859.”

Congratulations!