Space weather research and operations funding has increased, but there remains a challenge in conveying the potential danger of significant space weather events. Unlike natural disasters like hurricanes, space weather events often don’t leave visible damage, making it harder to demonstrate their impact.
The National Weather Service Director, Ken Graham, emphasized the difficulty in illustrating the importance of space weather preparedness because its impacts are not as apparent. NASA and NOAA, along with other agencies like the Defense Department and the European Space Agency, are working to establish a robust space weather program. However, achieving sufficient funding for these initiatives is still a struggle. The comment from Stephen Volz, assistant administrator for NOAA’s satellite and information service, highlighted the challenge: they are essentially “one major space weather disaster away from a fully funded program,” but obviously, such a disaster is not desired.