Montreal Space Symposium 2019

Heliophysics is one of the four divisions of NASA science mission directorate, dealing with the Sun and the space environment, in particular space weather, the study of how solar and heliospheric conditions affect Earth’s magnetosphere, upper atmosphere and man-made technology in space and on the ground, including spacecraft failure, auroras and geomagnetically induced currents. Solar eruptions, which occur daily, are the main cause of intense space weather effects, being associated with the majority of intense and extreme geomagnetic storms and energetic particle events. In this talk, I will introduce what we have learnt about solar eruptions from sixty years of space-based observations and present recent development on forecasting their space weather effects. I will conclude with a presentation of some future heliophysics missions and mission concepts, from flagship missions to smallsats and CubeSats, focusing on the advances made possible from miniaturization and cheaper access to space.