Oct 27 – 31, 2025
Europe/Stockholm timezone

Space Weather & Aviation: Key Findings from the DLR Impact Assessment Survey

Oct 30, 2025, 9:00 AM
25m
Idun

Idun

Oral P4 - Plenary talks P4 - Plenary Session

Speaker

Dr Erik Schmölter (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR))

Description

Solicited talk originating from parallel session CD4.
Like other components of modern technological infrastructure, aviation safety and efficiency are vulnerable to the effects of space weather events, as they depend on navigation and communication systems that can be disrupted by solar and geomagnetic activity. While these effects can be identified and better understood through substantiated research, it must also be assessed whether these disturbances have an actual impact on work processes in aviation. For that reason, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Ionosphere Monitoring and Prediction Center (IMPC) conducted an online user survey from 13th March to 28th April 2025 to gain insight how industry professionals perceive space weather threats. The results suggest that, although a significant proportion of participants are familiar with the concept of space weather, understanding of its specific impacts and associated risks is limited. The findings further reveal a perceived deficiency in communication between aviation stakeholders and space weather agencies. Consequently, this lack of communication hinders the ability of participants to identify and effectively utilize space weather services that are already available. We present and discuss the survey findings and present our recommendations to achieve and improve application-oriented space weather services for aviation.

Do you plan to attend in-person or online? In-person

Primary authors

Dr Erik Schmölter (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)) Dr Jens Berdermann (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)) Mr Martin Kriegel (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR))

Presentation materials

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