On May 24th, the headquarters of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) hosted the conference dedicated to the CAESAR (Comprehensive Space Weather Studies for the ASPIS Prototype Realization) project, which had been selected and supported by ASI and INAF under the ASI-INAF implementation agreement for "Study activities for the Space Weather scientific community to populate the ASPIS (ASI SPace weather InfraStructure) scientific data centre".
"The working day was an important opportunity to present the results of the CAESAR project," explained Monica Laurenza, First Researcher at the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) and CAESAR project coordinator. "Resulting from the collaboration of around one hundred scientists, the project has carried out very promising scientific studies to understand the causes and effects on human health and society of the phenomena that occur from the Sun to the Earth, to planetary environments, as a consequence of solar flares. Above all, the project has realised the prototype of the first space meteorology database to be set up by the ASI. Thanks to CAESAR, therefore, the prototype of an infrastructure of strategic importance and for the use of the entire space weather scientific community has been created in our country."
"CAESAR has produced the prototype of ASI's data infrastructure for Space Weather, ASPIS, whose goal is to become the node for the aggregation and development of scientific activities related to Space Weather Research for the Italian scientific community," added Giuseppe Sindoni, ASPIS Project Leader for ASI. "The Science supported by ASPIS aims to allow the national scientific community to take advantage of the opportunities for participation that will open up in the EU and international spheres, both in the area of modelling and data analysis, and in that of instrumentation, providing support and tools for the study of the lunar, cislunar or Martian environment, to assess the effects on payloads and astronauts, and to study magnetospheres and planetary surfaces".
The scientists involved in the project belong to three research bodies (National Institute of Astrophysics, National Institute of Nuclear Physics, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology), seven Italian universities (Calabria, Catania, Genoa, L'Aquila, Perugia, Rome Tor Vergata, Trento) and a number of foreign institutes (CAESAR Team)
Among the objectives of the project is the desire to expand the understanding of the origin and evolution of space weather phenomena and provide both new and established data, codes and models. Added to this is the aim to design, implement and populate the ASPIS prototype with such products in a flexible and user-friendly infrastructure and, finally, to pave the way for future advanced forecasting capabilities. Lastly, to ensure effective dissemination and promotion for future studies.
Read more about the project: https://caesar.iaps.inaf.it/