Solar Mass Ejection Imager Exceeds Expectations Published June 15, 2009 By Eva Blaylock Space Vehicles Directorate KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Greatly surpassing its anticipated 3-year design lifetime, AFRL's Solar Mass Ejection Imager recently completed its sixth year in operation. Throughout this period, the SMEI has compiled an unprecedented dataset of full-sky images (taken every 100 min) and consequently proved that coronal mass ejections can be detected and tracked from Sun to Earth, with 24 to 48 hours warning and 30% arrival time improvement. SMEI data inputs, used as a midcourse correction to operational solar wind propagation models, have spurred revisions to those same models. Most significant space weather is initiated at the Sun; very important sources of this weather are CMEs (huge blobs of plasma with an embedded magnetic structure), which can cause damaging geomagnetic storms affecting Earth. The Air Force Weather Agency installed the SMEI as an operational "demonstration" capability for predicting the occurrence of these potentially destructive storm events. In addition to CME monitoring, the SMEI's collateral surveillance capabilities include unique field-of-view and white-light-sensitive observation of spectacular comet tail disconnection events, asteroids, resident space objects, and high-altitude (>1000 km) auroras of significance to celestial and terrestrial backgrounds. While coronagraphs are able to see the launch of a CME as occurring close to the Sun, widely varying CME speeds and morphology make it necessary to image and track these ejections through interplanetary space in order to accurately predict their arrival, duration, strength, and effectiveness at Earth. Several current and future AFWA space weather modeling efforts would therefore benefit, directly or indirectly, from information acquired through a monitoring heliospheric imager. Such a real-time capability would also benefit "nowcasting." Several products purposed for space weather system impact assessment are currently in--or will soon undergo--transition to AFWA operations. These technologies will provide guidance regarding the effects of solar radio burst, radar auroral clutter, satellite and radar scintillation, and satellite charging/discharging. Such magnetospheric- and ionospheric-centric product performance will benefit from the improved modeling realized from heliospheric imaging. The success of the SMEI as a demonstration effort will enable the Air Force to leverage the experience in designing and fielding an operational mission with this space observation capability.