Morgantown, W.Va. – NextGen Federal Systems has been awarded a contract by Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate to predict space weather. In partnership with the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH), NextGen is maturing the Space Radiation Intelligence System (SPRINTS). SPRINTS is engineered to be an evolutionary machine-learned software solution for predicting space weather events and converges space weather research and operations with a collaborative data-driven and model-driven environment focused on applying machine learning.
Space weather can potentially cause adverse effects in space and on Earth, and in extreme events cause detrimental damage to critical global infrastructures. Preparations for such space weather events will help provide protection to key services, structures, and activities vital to U.S. national security and the economy.
Under the effort, SPRINTS will ingest additional data sources, apply machine-learned techniques, output solar radiation event forecasts, and operate in real-time. SPRINTS will also integrate other existing state-of-the-art space weather forecast capabilities including UAH’s MAG4 to extend forecast outlook times and improve forecast accuracies. The resulting forecasts can be provided to mission planners of astronauts traveling back to the Moon, high altitude flying crews, satellite mission planners, and satellite anomaly analysts.
According to NextGen’s Alec Engell, Principal Investigator for the effort, “By combining the MAG4 capability with SPRINTS, we are creating a coherent prediction system that transitions from a pre-eruptive state to a post-eruptive state. This will improve forecast lead times for solar radiation events.”
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NextGen is an innovative information technology and professional services provider specializing in agile software solutions as well as comprehensive mission and business support services. We design, develop, implement, and manage information technology (IT) solutions that measurably improve our customer’s organizational performance. Our core areas of expertise include C5ISR Software Development, Modern IT Systems Engineering, Modeling and Simulation, and Cyber Security & Data Management. NextGen adheres to industry standard practices and processes including CMMI, ISO, and PMBOK.
For more information on NextGen, contact JP Lapps at (443) 502-8649.
