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 Mission Day Instructions Overview The STORM Team monitors solar activity. You will track X-rays and protons from the sun. Solar proton events are dangerous. Intense and excessive electromagnetic energy and radioactive protons can cause great harm to the astronauts and damage the space station. You will monitor X-ray production, which provides an indicator of a possible SPE. X-rays are produced when the sun’s activity increases and protons move from low energy states to high-energy states. High levels of X-rays may indicate that an SPE is imminent. X-ray activity can also impact the radio and navigation functions of the space station. As a member of the STORM team, you will receive X-ray and proton data from the GOES-8 (Geostationary Orbiting Environmental Satellite-8). Once the data is received, it is your team's responsibility to record this data, graph it, and make calculations. You must predict the strength of the storm as well as how long it might last. It will be the duty of your Crisis Management team representative to communicate what you learn to all other teams. You will need to make recommendations to protect the space station and the crew. Remember, your work is vital to the space station and the astronauts on board. Your Task First, review the information that you studied during specialist training. Study your notes on solar weather-- especially the information on coronal mass ejections and solar proton events. Review the events that occurred during earlier storms when the space station encountered minor emergencies due to a coronal mass ejection. Second, practice analyzing data, making calculations, graphing, and developing recommendations. You must monitor all changes in the solar weather patterns and report any noteworthy fluctuations to the rest of the teams. It is critical that X-ray and proton levels are closely watched because they can have immediate effects on the space station crew. Before the mission begins, you should be able to answer the following questions: 1. What solar events are potentially dangerous? How are these events monitored? 2. What does a sudden spike in X-rays indicate? 3. What is a Coronal Mass Ejection? 4. How can you tell if a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is likely to occur? 5. What is a Solar Proton Event (SPE)? 6. Why does the proton data need to be closely monitored by the ISS astronauts? |
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