Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan
Owners and operators of critical infrastructure are encouraged to coordinate with electric power providers to ensure response and recovery following outages resulting from space-weather events. Space weather refers to variations in the space environment between the sun and earth, such as geomagnetic storms, that can cause hazardous conditions and disruptions of the power grid. The National Science and Technology Council’s Oct. 29, 2015 National Space Weather Strategy and National Space Weather Action Plan establish six high-level goals for addressing space-weather events: establish benchmarks for assessing space-weather events; enhance response and recovery capabilities; improve protection and mitigation efforts; improve assessment, modeling and prediction of impacts on critical infrastructure; improve space-weather services through advancing understanding and forecasting; and increase international cooperation. Largely aimed at federal government agencies, the Strategy and Action Plan nonetheless rely on coordination with and participation by industry.
