New Telescope and Rocket Enhance Solar Flare Forecasts Published Dec. 4, 2006 By Space Vehicles Directorate AFRL/VS KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- AFRL scientists engaged in Solar Disturbance program activities developed the Optical Solar Patrol Network (OSPaN), a state-of-the-art solar telescope that improves solar flare forecast accuracy and lead time for operational end users, such as the Air Force Space Command and Air Force Weather Agency. Each minute of the day--sunrise to sunset--the OSPaN apparatus photographs the entire solar disc in several optical wavelengths (i.e., colors). OSPaN operates nearly autonomously in capturing and delivering images to various users, including scientists whose work involves the development of better statistical forecast models and solar instrument operators, who rely on eruptive event timing and other contextual information to interpret narrow-field images. In February 2006, AFRL scientists used OSPaN to support the Multi- Order Solar Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrograph (MOSES) sounding rocket launch, which occurred at the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. Built by scientists from Montana State University, the University College London (United Kingdom), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center, the MOSES instrument records simultaneous solar imaging and spectral information needed for discerning the connections and relationships between coronal (outer solar atmosphere) and transitional region (lower altitude) structures, a capability that improves physics-based forecast models. The MOSES sounding rocket launch, OSPaN, and coronal observing systems provide inputs toward accurate, long-term, physics-based solar activity forecasts.