The University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) and the Luxembourg-based space-tech startup Mission Space have announced the signing of a partnership agreement for the joint development of Machine Learning (ML) models in the field of space weather. ML models will be trained on the Luxembourg supercomputer MELUXINA, one of the most powerful computing machines in Europe.
Space weather includes changes in the conditions of the sun, solar wind, magnetosphere, ionosphere, thermosphere and exosphere. It is ranked amongst the most dangerous natural hazards that affect space and ground-based technological systems as well as the health and life of humans. The potential global economic impact of space weather events such as a severe geomagnetic storm are great and could incur losses totalling €38,4 BN per day.
To address the lack of comprehensive solutions in the field of space weather, Mission Space is developing unique technology that combines 24/7 space weather monitoring, analytics and sector-specific predictions. With the expertise of researchers at SnT, the technology aims to increase the forecast accuracy of geomagnetic events and enable timely dissemination of critical information to affected organisations.
Research will be led by Prof. Andreas Hein and Dr. Maxime Cordy. According to Prof. Hein, the team will improve existing methods for space weather forecasting by uniting SnT’s research strength in the areas of space systems engineering and in ML. As he explains, “combining our methods and in-house expertise in an entirely new way promises to help Mission Space undertake more accurate space weather forecasting, with a long term view of building a space weather research excellence centre in Luxembourg. It’s an exciting project.” This move also simplifies access to relevant weather data for academia researchers, which could help expand space weather research.
The resulting development could have an immediate impact in various arenas across the space industry, with particular relevance for the timing and duration of future space missions. The technology may also improve the responsiveness of electric power grids, pipeline infrastructure, railway systems, global navigation systems, aviation, and emergency management systems, amongst others, in the event of weather events. The enhanced ability to predict the effects of space weather also holds considerable advantages for the financial sector, including insurance and financial risk management.
For Mission Space founders Alex Pospekhov and Alexey Shirobokov, developing space weather monitoring technology will ultimately position Luxembourg as a global hub for space weather research and development. Bastien Berg, a Luxembourg-City Incubator Coordinator, believes this new collaboration between Mission Space and the University of Luxembourg demonstrates the vitality of the national innovation ecosystem. “We’ve been supporting Mission Space for over two years now, and we’ve been able to appreciate the positive evolution of the project, which took full advantage of our wide range of services for startups to accelerate its development. It’s also further proof of the dynamism of the spacetech ecosystem in Luxembourg, which boasts many promising startups backed by a large network of highly committed players. We are proud to contribute to this collective success, and look forward to seeing the fruitful results of this collaboration, and its positive impact on Luxembourg’s innovation landscape.”
The duration of the project is three years and coincides with the gradual deployment of the Mission Space monitoring constellation, which will be launched in 2024.