Solar radio flux for orbit determination: nowcast and forecast
Low orbit satellites are subject to drag effects in the residual atmosphere, leading to a decay in altitude. Drag effect is directly linked to the density of the atmosphere, which vary with solar activity, for which the radio solar flux is an indicator. CLS gives a 30 days forecast of the 30 cm flux in order to anticipate the thermospheric density which – as an example – may help satellite operators in their maneuver planning.
Nowcast of Ionospheric Scintillation for the civil aviation
GNSS positioning may be severely degraded during an ionospheric scintillation event. Our service provides global maps of scintillation levels to potentially generate alerts for the benefit of the civil aviation sector (ICAO Space Weather Information Service), for example before an aircraft landing phase.
Forecast of Solar Proton Event for space operations
High energy particle ejected from the Sun may have a critical impact on the electronics of space vehicle. CLS proposes a service totally tailored to our customer to predict the risk of occurrence of such event.