Space Bytes

La Paz | Creative Data Display with the Parker Solar Probe

SUNSHADE- SPACE WEATHER DISPLAY

High-Level Project Summary

The Sunshade project is an interactive way to visualize space weather, with data provided by the Parker and EVE space stations, through an application and a prototype sphere of 110 RGB LEDs the following information will be displayed: sunspots for a given date and coordinate, northern lights will be displayed in a certain color according to the power in the atmosphere and its Kp factor (global auroral activity indicator) and solar radiation data according to its intensity.

Link to Final Project

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ub49n03ZCAaCyB25q947l4FORBdYv58c?usp=sharing

Link to Project "Demo"

https://youtu.be/1M5FJ6ZLEHM

Detailed Project Description

SUNSHADE- SPACE WEATHER VISUALIZER

The goal of our project is to give an interactive view of space weather data provided by space probes such as Parker and EVE.

Justification

As space agencies send more probes into space to study the sun, they are collecting more and more information about the solar weather and the phenomena that occur on the sun, so that scientists with this data study how they relate to each other and how some of these phenomena are related to phenomena that occur on earth, for example: The solar wind and its relationship with the Aurora Borealis.

But as more of this data emerges, which implies a deeper knowledge in sciences such as Physics or Chemistry, this information is difficult to disseminate to a public not expert in the area but who has the interest to learn how solar phenomena. That is why Sunshade! arises, to express in a creative and attractive way the data collected by space probes and space agencies in the world, to a public fond of science and also to attract more public to venture into the world of space science.

Development

To have a general understanding of the data we were going to collect and study we had to research and understand concepts related to space weather:

What is space weather?

Space weather refers to variations in the space environment that are a consequence of charged particles and electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun.

On Earth, water, temperature and air give rise to weather, while the main contributors to space weather are the particles, electromagnetic energy and magnetic fields produced by the sun.

So, the space weather emanates from phenomena that emanate from the sun and as these are reflected in the terrestrial environment, the data for the phenomena we studied were:

- Sunspots. -

Sunspots are areas that look dark on the surface of the Sun. They are darker because they are cooler than other parts of the surface. However, the temperature of a sunspot is still very high: 6500°F.

Sunspots are caused by disturbances in the Sun's magnetic field emanating into the photosphere, the visible part of the "surface". The strong magnetic fields near sunspots produce active regions on the Sun, which often generate activities such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

Sunspots are very large structures. Even though they appear small when viewed against the background of the Sun, which has a diameter of 1.4 million kilometers.

The general classification according to their magnitude is:

α - Alpha: A group of unipolar sunspots.

β - Beta: A sunspot group that has a positive and negative (or bipolar) polarity with a simple split between the polarities.

γ - Gamma: A complex region in which the positive and negative polarities are so unevenly distributed that they cannot be classified as a bipolar sunspot group.

β-γ - Beta-Gamma: A bipolar sunspot group but complex enough that a line cannot be drawn between spots of opposite polarity.

δ - Delta: Shadows of opposite polarity in a single penumbra.

β-δ - Beta-Delta: A sunspot group with a general magnetic beta configuration, but containing one (or more) delta sunspots.

β-γ-δ - Beta-Gamma-Delta: A sunspot group with a beta-gamma magnetic configuration but containing one (or more) delta sunspots.

γ-δ - Gamma-Delta A sunspot group with a gamma-magnetic configuration but containing one (or more) delta sunspots.

Depending on their classification some sunspot groups are more likely to produce of solar flares, the most active being those classified as delta.

- Solar Irradiance:

Irradiance is the magnitude used to describe the incident power per unit area of all types of electromagnetic radiation.

It should be noted that only a fraction of the total power emitted by the sun is incident on an object in space that is at a certain distance from the sun. Solar radiation (H0 in W/m2) is the incident power density on an object due to the sun's illumination. At the surface of the Sun, the power density is that of a black body at approximately 6000K and the total power of the sun is this value multiplied by the surface area of the sun. However, at some distance from the sun, the sun's total power is spread over a much larger surface area and therefore the solar radiance on an object in space decreases as the object moves farther away from the sun.

- Kp factor:

The Kp index was designed to measure the magnetic effects of solar events and is presented on a logarithmic scale with variability ranges from 0 (no activity) to 9 (maximum storm activity):

- Kp=9 (Category G5: Extreme): Electrical systems: general voltage control problems and problems with protection systems, some loops in the system may experience complete failures or outages. Transformers may be damaged. Satellite operation: may experience extensive surface static overload, problems with orientation, problems with uplink/downlink and satellite tracking.

- Kp = 8, including 9 (Category G4: Severe): Electrical Systems: General voltage control problems and problems with protection systems that may trip erroneously. Satellite Operations: may experience tracking problems and surface static overload, corrections may be required for orientation problems.

- Kp = 7 (Category G3: Severe): Electrical system: voltage corrections may be required, initiating false alarms some protective equipment. Satellite operation: static surface overload may occur on components, increased drag may occur on low orbit components, and corrections may be necessary for orientation problems.

- Kp = 6 (G2: Moderate): Electrical System: High latitude systems may experience voltage level alarms, long duration storms cause damage to transformers. Satellite Operation: Ground controls may require corrective guidance actions.

- Kp = 5 (G1: Slight): Electrical system: Weak voltage fluctuations may occur. Satellite operation: possible small impact on operations. Other systems: Migratory animals are affected at this level and higher levels.

DATA ANALYZED:

- Sunspot Characteristics:

Number per sample

Area

Type/ Magnitude

- Solar Irradiance

- Kp Index

Aurora Borealis Power

For an interactive visualization we designed a sphere of 110 RGB LEDs that simulates the sun for the first 2 parameters, and for the last parameter will show the planet earth, and its northern lights, through this device we seek to represent the solar and / or planetary phenomena interactively displaying location information, color and brightness level.

For this design we make use of an abstraction of the surface of a sphere, we discretize it as a matrix of LEDs and control it through the Arduino nano microcontroller, through the serial data connection we send the necessary parameters such as sets of Position, Color, and Brightness Level.

What is sought with our led sphere is to encourage the areas of research, learning and develop technical skills due to the possibility of implementing this sphere by oneself, being a low cost solution making it available to everyone and generate even more interest.

Space Agency Data

Download link for applicaction (Sunspots): https://spaceweather.rra.go.kr/assa

Solar irradiation data: https://lasp.colorado.edu/eve/data_access/eve-one-minute-averages/index.html

Hackathon Journey

Participating in Space Apps Challenge La Paz is a unique experience, we are very glad that it is carried out in person, because interacting with people in this way can not be replaced, the hackathon helped us to grow in every way and to meet people. All the hours of the hackathon helped us to understand that teamwork is important, because you can see different types of views that you may not have considered.

As a team we love technology and in the same way the space, when we found the challenge we thought that people who are passionate about science and still do not have much knowledge in this area can experiment, observe and learn from the solar weather data that are captured by this probe.