Scientific background and application background of space weather.

The new field of "space weather" comes from the exploration, research and application of solar-terrestrial space. It is full of complex and changeable dynamic processes, and sometimes catastrophic events occur. Just like wind, rain, lightning and other weather changes on the surface, "space weather" has a great influence on human activities.

From 1957 to today, the space age has gone through 40 years. As the "fourth environment" of the earth, the earth space shows great resource prospects to mankind. The characteristics of high vacuum, low density and strong radiation provide experimental conditions that cannot be realized on the ground for scientific research, and also provide facilities that cannot be realized on the ground for resources, meteorology, communication and military reconnaissance.

However, once humans enter this field, they really know that there are not only benefits waiting for them, but also dangers brought by the harsh space environment. It is absolutely necessary to understand the state and changes of the electromagnetic environment in the earth's space, especially the process and influence of catastrophic space events, both from the scientific point of view and from the application point of view.

The ground environment where human beings form and live is also greatly influenced by "space weather". For hundreds of millions of years, the biosphere and human beings on the earth have occurred, developed and evolved in such an electromagnetic environment inherent in the earth. It can be predicted that the survival and development of human beings are closely related to the electromagnetic environment of the earth. On the one hand, the progress of human civilization has made mankind walk out of the earth and found the conditions to maintain human progress in the vast universe. On the other hand, modern human civilization is becoming more and more fragile, and various technical systems on which modern human beings depend are becoming more and more sensitive to the ever-changing space weather: a big magnetic storm may destroy the power system and make millions of people live in darkness; A big magnetic storm can make a long-distance oil pipeline generate thousands of volts of high voltage. ...

Therefore, the study of "space weather" came into being.

Only when mankind enters the space age, the complex space environment structure and rich space phenomena are truly recognized by people. Originally imagined as a simple vacuum, it is so colorful. Only in the space age can people realize the seriousness of the space environment and the great influence of the space environment on modern human society. With the rapid development of space physics, space communication has become a booming high-tech and has penetrated into social life. "Space weather" has become the object of people's monitoring and forecasting. Space life, space materials, space astronomy, microgravity and many other emerging and interdisciplinary subjects have developed rapidly and become a dynamic discipline-space science.