User Engagement for NOAA’s Space Weather Next Program

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is implementing the Space Weather Next (SW Next) program to provide continuity of critical space weather observations and enhancements beyond current capabilities. In formulating the SW Next program, the Office of Space Weather Observations (SWO) within NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) relies on user engagement to support mission milestones. This poster describes the SWO framework for user engagement and recent user engagement work. User engagement for SW Next consists of three phases: (1) understanding user needs, (2) ensuring user readiness, and (3) user sustainment. Currently, SWO is assessing user needs to understand how operational space weather users, such as NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), end users impacted by space weather like power grid and satellite operators, and the science community, rely on space weather observations. The information collected will inform the development of requirements, architecture and instrument selection, and planning for its next generation satellite missions and data products.

As launches of SW Next observatories approach, focus will shift from identification of user needs to ensuring the readiness of users to incorporate SW Next data products into their applications and optimizing the transition to operations. The final phase of user engagement focuses on sustainment. NOAA plans to achieve this by ensuring that SW Next products continue to meet user needs through calibration and algorithm adjustments, the development of new products, and the identification of new data sources. User engagements are supported by close collaboration with operational centers like SWPC, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and other stakeholders. The collection and understanding of user needs also feeds back into NESDIS enterprise portfolio management. Therefore, these efforts proceed in close collaboration with the NESDIS Office of Systems Architecture and Engineering (SAE).