Brian
@drbwalsh.bsky.social
Space science explorer and professor at Boston University. Space sensor builder
Big space weather news! Our work on assessing the feasibility of artificially stopping major space weather events has been published! Science magazine has released a news article on it! #spaceweather #aurora www.science.org/content/arti...
Radical proposal would block solar storms with orbital ‘airbag’
Gases released from satellites could slash the threat of severe space weather
science.org
🎧 New episode out now, with space physicist Brian Walsh! Brian put a telescope on the moon to look back at the space around Earth, and he has come up with a clever way to protect us from geomagnetic storms. @drbwalsh.bsky.social #solarwind #geomagneticstorm www.buzzsprout.com/2464891/epis...
Brian Walsh peers at Earth from the moon (he's a space physicist) - Socializing with Scientists
To prepare for the moment his telescope landed on the moon, Brian read sports psychology books. "You're not going to read Kepler or Isaac Newton [to learn] about how to deal with high pressure situati...
buzzsprout.com
The SMILE mission’s boat journey has begun - www.esa.int/Science_Expl... (Interestingly, the boat ride distance ~7,500km is much further than the distance from Earth to low earth orbit ~400km) #heliophysics
Smile sets sail for Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana
Just over a year since Smile arrived in the Netherlands in two parts, the now-complete and thoroughly-tested spacecraft has left for good. With a launch window set for 8 April – 7 May on a Vega-C rock...
esa.int
Happy Periapsis Day to those that celebrate! Earth is at periapsis in its orbit around the sun. The closest point between Earth-sun in the year-long orbit.
Gorgeous first-light images from Carruthers Observatory - absolutely amazing #heliophysics science.nasa.gov/science-rese...
The top social media moment of 2025 was when BU's telescope, the Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI), was about to land on the moon. It is part of NASA’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, which launched from Florida on January 15. This historic event tops our annual recap.
Dismantling NCAR would be devastating for the research community and the public. Join AGU to ask Congress to speak out and save NCAR: agu.quorum.us/campaign/151...
Save NCAR from being dismantled today!
The Trump Administration has vowed to dissolve the center that provides critical extreme weather and climate data for our nation.
agu.quorum.us
Alexandra Witze@alexwitze.bsky.social · 8mo agoHere's our reporting on the proposed dismantling of the jewel of US atmospheric science, @ncar-ucar.bsky.social. The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others. www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪 #AGU25 #climate
This looks like it could be a big one! Look to the skies this evening.... But now that I've said that, I've jinxed it.
SpaceWeatherLive@spaceweatherlive.com · 9mo agoCME impact detected - Current Solar Wind Speed 624km/sec - IMF: Bt (strength): 39nT & Bz: -31nT (South). Follow live on https://www.spaceweather.live/l/aurora
Power on! That small step function is the first power on in space of the COSSMo instrument from yesterday. The BU student-developed payload is on the Carruthers Geocoronal Observatory and will monitor the sun in UV and soft X-ray. #heliophysics
A small experiment - over the past 2 months I saved all the junk mail I received, ~7.1 lbs. Projecting to the number of adults in the US, that’s 813 million pounds of unsolicited mail every month in the US
SMILE spacecraft passed through thermal testing. A nice video of the progress by the ESA team www.youtube.com/embed/8soC68...
YouTube
youtube.com
'NASA is under attack.' Space agency employees and lawmakers protest mass layoffs, science cuts amid budget turmoil - They're telling everyone to 'jump ship.'" By Josh Dinner at Space.com Go to: www.space.com/space-explor... Image credit: Josh Dinner
This month marks 10 years teaching at @bostonu.bsky.social. It has been almost 1,000 energetic and curious Terrier students
Motivating to be part of 450 US space scientists in Des Moines this week. My favorite line of the workshop “whether they know it or not, everyone in this country is becoming a space worker” in reference to the growing reliance of daily life on the space environment
LEXI made it to lunar orbit. 2 weeks to landing and X-ray imaging
One of the most exciting step-functions in electrical current I’ve seen. Lexi powering up successfully shortly after reaching orbit. ☀️
T-less than a day to LEXI’s launch on the Blue Ghost. Weather in Florida is looking good
In 1651 if you wanted to bash someone’s idea you wrote a book with a gorgeous art critique. It looks like Riccioli didnt like geocentrism If there’s room you could also include one of the first maps of the moon defining many of the names we use today. Thanks to #bostonpubliclibrary for sharing
Quickly approaching launch. Excitement is growing to image Earth's magnetosphere from space science.nasa.gov/science-rese...
NASA’s LEXI Will Provide X-Ray Vision of Earth’s Magnetosphere - NASA Science
A NASA X-ray imager is heading to the Moon as part of NASA's Artemis campaign, where it will capture the first global images of the magnetic field that shields Earth from solar radiation.
science.nasa.gov
de Magnete (1600) by Gilbert started magnetospheric physics. Earth is a magnet! When this was written this also resolved a debate of why compasses pointed north. Thanks to BPL Special Collections for sharing an original copy. #heliophysics
SMILE is on the move! Always impressive the logistics that go into shipping spacecraft youtu.be/7aJTuJPGYy8?...
Smile's other half arrives | Let’s Smile (action snippet)
YouTube video by ESA Space Science Hub
youtu.be
Two months out from launch! LEXI’s science mission ends when the sun and Earth are too close in the sky to image earths magnetic field without solar background. From LEXI and the moon, this is “new Earth.” From Earth’s perspective - a full moon. Graphic from @firefly-aerospace.bsky.social
Back to Helsinki with the Vlasiator team for more sabbatical numerical simulations. I’ve been told February is still the “dark” part of the year here
