While the nation celebrates the safe return of the astronauts who flew by the moon, there’s another celestial body scientists yearn to know more about for future missions: the sun.

“As we travel farther and farther in space, as we get to the moon, as we go to Mars, our ability to understand how the sun works fundamentally is crucial to all of that,” said Joseph Westlake, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA, during a panel discussion in Colorado Springs on Monday.

Space weather, the study of how activity on the sun can impact the Earth or the rest of the solar system, isn’t just important for the Artemis missions, he added.

He said it’s also becoming more important as the world grows increasingly technological and more satellites are launched into orbit.

Space weather can impact power grids, satellite communications, GPS systems and radio, and has also driven recent stunning aurora borealis displays across the nation.

On the Artemis II mission, federal scientists also helped relay space weather information to protect the astronauts from radiation.

But the science of space weather is still developing and leaders from federal agencies and research institutes spoke about the struggles of predicting and funding space weather forecasts at the 41st annual Space Symposium, a major conference hosted at The Broadmoor Hotel that brings aerospace and defense industry leaders from around the world.

Colorado’s Front Range is a major hub for the aerospace industry and it’s also home to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center, which is located in Boulder.

Scientists are “data starved” when it comes to the sun, Westlake said.

It’s hard to get the necessary amount of data needed to understand the massive ball of ionized gas, he said. It’s also a challenge when people on Earth only see its face.

There’s new datasets coming in to help, but he said the thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit are almost relying on a “farmers’ almanac.”

“We’re operating … just so in the blind,” he said.

NASA and NOAA want to amp up space weather research to be able to create multi-day forecasts of solar activity to help both public and private institutions prepare for large surges of energy that may come from the sun.

Last year, together, the agencies launched the SWFO-L1, NOAA’s first satellite designed solely to monitor space weather. It’ll act as an early warning system for coronal mass ejections and any dangerous space weather events.

NOAA also plans to launch two more observational space weather satellites in 2029 and the mid-2030s, said Irene Parker, acting assistant administrator of NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service. Still, she said, the agency wants more funding to do more.

“I will tell you, it is a challenge to be able to expand the operational capabilities of space weather,” Parker said. “When people don’t see it, it’s hard to be able to get the financial support from Congress.”

But more people are starting to understand the importance of space weather as the sun is in solar maximum, the peak of its solar cycle, and several solar events in the past year have produced aurora shows across the nation. It also had more effects on the agricultural and aviation industries.

One of the solar storms that affected the Earth last May came during the planting and harvesting season for farmers. Parker described how a peanut farmer lost “billions” a day because space weather affected his GPS systems used to help harvest his crops.

“We’re trying to do a better job articulating to the general public why it is as important as knowing hurricanes and why this is important as knowing that there’s a flood that’s coming,” she said.

But, as the space defense industry grows, it can help political leaders better recognize the need to better understand space weather as a matter of national security, said Daniel Baker, director of the Colorado Space Policy Center at the University of Colorado.

“This is a civil matter, a national security matter, a societal matter,” Baker said. “We have to do a better job of helping people understand that this is worthy of much more systematic and group support.”

He also acknowledged there’s been a lot of progress in the last decade to getting policymakers to understand the hazards of space weather.

“​​Some of the things that occurred in the last couple of years … could have had a more devastating effect on technology but people are more prepared now,” Baked added.

“People are taking proper precautions in many respects and taking the evasive measures when necessary.”