Latest news with #SuryaHeliophysicsFoundationalModel
Time of India
a day ago
- Science
- Time of India
NASA and IBM create ‘Surya': Advanced AI for predicting solar storms and strengthening space defence
NASA has introduced 'Surya,' a groundbreaking artificial intelligence model aimed at revolutionising how we understand and forecast space weather. Developed in collaboration with IBM and trained on over nine years of continuous data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), Surya analyses massive streams of solar activity to detect early signs of solar flares and eruptions. These events, often unpredictable, can disrupt satellites, communication systems, aviation, GPS navigation, and even cause widespread power grid failures on Earth. Early results show Surya can generate visual forecasts up to two hours in advance with greater accuracy than traditional methods. By making the model open-source, NASA hopes to enable global researchers to build on its capabilities, enhancing space weather defense worldwide. How AI helps scientists understand solar eruptions and protect Earth's technology When the Sun erupts, it releases bursts of charged particles and magnetic energy known as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These events create 'space weather' that can travel across the solar system and affect Earth. Solar weather predictions: A shield for satellites, power, astronauts, and trave: Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 11 Foods That Help In Healing Knee Pain Naturally Undo by Taboola by Taboola Satellite disruption: Solar storms can damage or disable satellites used for communication, navigation, and weather forecasting. Power grid failures: Strong geomagnetic storms can overload power infrastructure, causing widespread blackouts. Astronaut safety: Solar radiation poses a serious health risk to astronauts on the ISS and future missions to the Moon and Mars. Air travel and GPS: Aviation routes and GPS-based services can be interrupted, affecting global connectivity. Understanding and forecasting solar eruptions is therefore essential not just for scientists but for protecting modern life. Surya: NASA's AI model for the Sun The Surya Heliophysics Foundational Model is NASA's response to these growing challenges. Built with the help of IBM and research partners, Surya is an AI system trained specifically on solar physics. Unlike conventional forecasting methods that rely on limited models, Surya leverages machine learning to process massive datasets and detect subtle patterns in solar activity. This allows it to predict solar eruptions faster and more accurately than traditional approaches. Source: NASA Training AI on solar dynamics observatory data for better space weather forecasts Surya's power lies in its training data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), a spacecraft launched in 2010 to study the Sun. High-resolution imagery: SDO captures images of the Sun every 12 seconds across multiple wavelengths, providing unmatched detail. Magnetic field mapping: The observatory records constant measurements of the Sun's magnetic activity—key triggers of solar storms. 15-year archive: With an unbroken record spanning an entire solar cycle, the dataset gives Surya a rare depth of consistency. This continuous monitoring enables Surya to recognize the earliest signs of instability on the Sun's surface, helping it forecast eruptions before they occur. AI in solar forecasting: Faster and 16% more accurate results Initial tests show Surya outperforming traditional methods in predicting solar activity. Forecast lead time: Surya can produce visual forecasts up to two hours in advance. Accuracy boost: It improves predictive performance by about 16% compared to current models. Visual modeling: Surya generates dynamic visualizations that help scientists interpret predictions more effectively. Even short-term improvements matter. An extra hour of warning could give satellite operators time to protect spacecraft or allow power grid managers to adjust loads and prevent cascading failures. NASA makes AI model 'Surya' open-source for global space weather research Source: NASA NASA has chosen to make Surya publicly accessible to accelerate space weather research worldwide. Available on Hugging Face: Researchers can access the AI model directly for experimentation and forecasting. Code on GitHub: Developers and educators can adapt and expand its capabilities. This open-science approach ensures Surya's benefits are shared globally, encouraging innovation across scientific and industrial fields. Surya's development reflects collaboration between government, academia, and industry. National AI Research Resource (NAIRR): Provided by the National Science Foundation to supply the necessary computing infrastructure. NVIDIA and IBM: Industry partners offering hardware and expertise to optimize the model's performance. By combining NASA's deep space data with cutting-edge AI technology, Surya represents a fusion of science and computation that can be replicated in other domains of Earth and space science. The impact of space weather and AI forecasting on daily life Predicting solar activity isn't just about protecting satellites—it touches nearly every aspect of life on Earth. Defense and security: Military communications and surveillance systems depend on satellite functionality. Global economy: Stock markets, airlines, and internet services all rely on stable communication networks. Future space missions: As NASA prepares for lunar bases and eventual Mars missions, accurate radiation forecasts will be essential for astronaut survival. Just as meteorology transformed life on Earth by predicting storms and climate patterns, heliophysics is now moving toward real-time forecasting of the Sun's moods. NASA's vision for the future NASA officials believe Surya marks the beginning of a new era in heliophysics. Kevin Murphy, NASA's Chief Science Data Officer, highlighted the shift: 'We are advancing data-driven science by embedding NASA's deep scientific expertise into cutting-edge AI models. This empowers broader understanding of how solar activity impacts critical systems on Earth.' Joseph Westlake, Director of NASA's Heliophysics Division, compared it to traditional weather forecasting: 'Just as meteorology helps us predict Earth's weather, space weather forecasting helps us protect astronauts, spacecraft, power grids, and GPS systems. Surya is a vital step forward.' Also Read | Who is Kairan Quazi? 16-year-old teen engineer leaving SpaceX to start a new role at Citadel Securities
NDTV
a day ago
- Science
- NDTV
NASA Launches AI Model To Understand Solar Eruptions, Predict Space Weather
NASA is raising the bar in solar science with the debut of the Surya Heliophysics Foundational Model, an artificial intelligence system built to decode the Sun's complex behavior. Trained on nine years of continuous observations from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), Surya is designed to analyse vast amounts of solar data, helping scientists better understand solar eruptions and predict space weather that threatens satellites, power grids, and communication systems. Developed with IBM and other partners, Surya processes vast streams of solar data to provide insights that were once out of reach. The model already shows promise in one of heliophysics' toughest challenges: predicting solar flares. In collaboration with @NASA, we've open-sourced Surya on @huggingface — a new foundation model designed to help researchers protect infrastructure through accessible, accurate modeling of space weather. It's going to totally change how we forecast solar storms. See how.🧵 — IBM (@IBM) August 20, 2025 Early tests demonstrate that Surya can generate visual forecasts up to two hours in advance, outperforming current methods by 16%. NASA is making Surya openly available, the model on HuggingFace and the code on GitHub, to encourage scientists, educators, and innovators worldwide to build on its capabilities. The foundation of Surya's success lies in the unique dataset from SDO. Since its launch in 2010, the spacecraft has provided an unbroken, high-resolution record of the Sun, capturing images every 12 seconds across multiple wavelengths along with detailed magnetic field measurements. This 15-year archive, spanning an entire solar cycle, gives Surya the depth and consistency needed to detect subtle patterns in solar activity that shorter datasets would miss. NASA officials see Surya as a major step forward. "We are advancing data-driven science by embedding NASA's deep scientific expertise into cutting-edge AI models," said Kevin Murphy, chief science data officer at NASA Headquarters. "This model empowers broader understanding of how solar activity impacts critical systems and technologies that we all rely on here on Earth." Surya's development was supported by the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot, a National Science Foundation initiative with industry partners such as NVIDIA, providing the computing power needed for advanced AI research. As Joseph Westlake, director of NASA's Heliophysics Division, noted: "Just as we use meteorology to forecast Earth's weather, space weather forecasts predict the conditions and events in the space environment that can affect Earth and our technologies. Applying AI to data from our heliophysics missions is a vital step in increasing our space weather defense to protect astronauts and spacecraft, power grids and GPS, and many other systems that power our modern world."
UPI
a day ago
- Science
- UPI
NASA employs AI to better predict solar activity
Aug. 20 (UPI) -- NASA announced Wednesday that it is deciphering the sun's behavior with help from artificial intelligence. In a press release, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said that, in conjunction with IBM among other partners, it has developed an AI model dubbed the Surya Heliophysics Foundational Model, which has been trained on nine years' worth of data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Surya is Sanskrit for "sun." "We are advancing data-driven science by embedding NASA's deep scientific expertise into cutting-edge AI models," said NASA Chief Science Data Officer Kevin Murphy in the release. "By developing a foundation model trained on NASA's heliophysics data, we're making it easier to analyze the complexities of the sun's behavior with unprecedented speed and precision." "This model empowers broader understanding of how solar activity impacts critical systems and technologies that we all rely on here on Earth," he added. Using solar data, Surya can analyze solar flares and make predictions regarding how space weather might impact technology such as communication systems and satellites, as well as power grids. Surya can also forecast how UV from the sun affects the Earth's upper atmosphere and determine solar wind speed. "Our society is built on technologies that are highly susceptible to space weather," said NASA's Heliophysics Division Director Joseph Westlake in the release. "Just as we use meteorology to forecast Earth's weather, space weather forecasts predict the conditions and events in the space environment that can affect Earth and our technologies." "We want to give Earth the longest lead time possible," said solar physicist Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo Wednesday in a press release from IBM. "Our hope is that the model has learned all the critical processes behind our star's evolution through time so that we can extract actionable insights." NASA also reports that while Surya is designed for Sun study, it can be adapted to engage several types of scientific explorations, including observing the Earth and conducting planetary science. Additionally, both the model and training datasets from Surya are available to try out online at Hugging Face, GitHub and in IBM's TerraTorch library for fine-tuning geospatial AI models. A benchmark dataset called "SuryaBench" has also been open sourced to the public. "We've been on this journey of pushing the limits of technology with NASA since 2023, delivering pioneering foundational AI models to gain an unprecedented understanding of our planet Earth," said Juan Bernabé-Moreno, the IBM director in charge of the scientific collaboration with NASA. "With Surya we have created the first foundation model to look the sun in the eye and forecast its moods."
