New CubeSat Project Aims to Extend Space Weather Warning Times Tenfold

• Imperial College London researchers introduced the HENON CubeSat, designed to improve solar storm forecasting by providing longer advance warning times.
• Current space weather satellites at the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point provide only 15 to 60 minutes of warning; HENON aims to extend this to approximately 3 hours.

Technical Approach

• HENON will orbit 15 million kilometers from Earth—ten times farther than existing monitoring satellites—to detect solar events sooner.
• The spacecraft carries the MAGIC (MAGnetometer from Imperial College) instrument to measure solar magnetic fields and determine the severity of incoming space weather.

Context and Future Development

• Space weather risks include radiation storms, geomagnetic storms, and radio blackouts, as categorized by NOAA's G-, S-, and R- scales.
• Recent extreme events include the May 2024 "Jennifer Gannon" G5 storm and a January 2026 S4 radiation storm.
• HENON serves as a precursor to the European Space Agency's (ESA) upcoming SHIELD mission, which intends to establish a permanent, upscaled space weather monitoring network based on this technology.