The Future of Space Weather Observations

Abstract: 

Our Sun lights up the solar system, but it’s as not calm or predictable as it may seem. Flares and explosions called coronal mass ejections unleash fast-moving particles and radiation that pose dangers to spacecraft and astronauts alike. Yaireska Collado-Vega leads a team at NASA’s Goddard Spacecraft Center that is studying the solar weather environment so that robots and people exploring space can be protected. In this episode of Gravity Assist, she describes the excitement and challenges of understanding space weather, and how she got to be a NASA scientist.

Speaker:  

Dr. Yaireska (Yari) Collado-Vega’s is originally from Ponce, Puerto Rico. She received her PhD in Space Physics from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC with honors in January 2013. She received both her BS and MS in theoretical physics from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, in 2004 and 2007, respectively, and a second MS from The Catholic University of America on May 2010. She is the director of NASA's Moon to Mars (M2M) Space Weather Analysis Office and the former lead of the experimental Space Weather Forecasting Team at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC). The M2M Office supports NASA’s Space Radiation Analysis Group (SRAG) with human space exploration activities by providing novel capabilities to characterize the space radiation environment. The M2M Office also provides real-time analysis of the space environment and their probable impacts for NASA missions. Collado-Vega's research focuses on the solar wind interaction with the Earth's magnetic environment, solar energetic particle events, and space weather real time analysis. She also works on the validation of solar and magnetospheric models and the current developments on machine learning capabilities to improve space weather analysis and forecasting. She also conducts education and public outreach for NASA and the Heliophysics Science Division including social media events and live tv/radio interviews to increase the awareness on Heliophysics Science and space weather. She has presented at many international and national scientific conferences. She has been part of the NASA family for 18 years.