Solar activity can knock satellites off track, raising the risk of collisions. Scientists are hoping improved atmospheric models will help. “It’s not unlikely that we will get a large geomagnetic storm in the next four or five years,” says Berger. “And that will really test the whole thing.” The SWx TREC team in Colorado collaborates with Fang’s team at NOAA, trying to find ways to integrate the WAM-IPE model’s predictions of changes in atmospheric density into calculations of satellite orbits.
More information on this grant can be found in this MIT Technology Review article.