Currently, the Deep Space Observatory (DSCOVR) has been placed in a "safehold" position as engineers are working to fix an issue in the system. During this time, it won't be able to send any measurement data which helps us to monitor trends or events in space weather.
DSCOVR's ability to forecast space weather events is unprecedented, and its data gives power utilities a 45-minute warning before a solar storm hits the Earth. But we're far from prepared to deal with an event of a dangerous magnitude, and DSCOVR's absence certainly exacerbates the issue.
Clearly, we’re losing something very valuable in this time that DSCOVR remains in its safehold setting. Leslie explains, however, that while DSCOVR is offline, “there will be no interruption to the ability of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center to forecast and monitor space weather.”
(Image credit: NASA/Wikimedia Commons)