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Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO)

The Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO) program was designed to ensure continuity of critical space-based measurements of the solar corona and interplanetary medium. It supports NOAA’s mission to monitor Space Weather and to provide timely and accurate warnings to help our nation prepare for and minimize potential impacts to the economy and human health. 

NCEI archives and disseminates SWFO operational and science-quality data products, preserves and improves content, and ensures that data and metadata are accessible and easy to use. This page provides access to data and documentation from SWFO instruments.

The upcoming NCEI Space weather POrTal (SPOT) will be the one-stop cloud-based NOAA web portal and API for space weather satellite data. The first data served via SPOT will come from the SWFO program. While the SPOT portal is readying for launch, NCEI is releasing SWFO data links via NODD (NOAA Open Data Dissemination). This is a cloud-based initiative that provides public access to NOAA’s vast environmental datasets through cloud service providers. 

Check this page for an announcement on SPOT's future release date. 

For questions about the data, use the contact info in the relevant readme files, or email ncei.info@noaa.gov(link sends email) 

The SWFO instruments will be hosted on two different satellites - SOL-1 and GOES-19 - which will provide real-time measurements of solar wind plasma, supra-thermal ions and magnetic fields at the Lagrange Point 1 (L1) in the Sun-Earth line, and remote observations of the solar corona at L1 and geostationary orbit (GEO). Note: Before its launch on June 25, 2024, the GOES-19 satellite was called GOES-U. The SWFO-L1, will be renamed SOL-1 after launch (no earlier than) September 23rd, 2025.

Approximate orbit distances from Earth’s surface are:

  • L1: 1,500,000 km
  • GEO: 36,000 km
List of SWFO instruments
SWFO Instrument Brief description of the observation Host Satellite (Orbit)
CCOR-1 Compact Coronagraph

Coronal White Light Images

  • Observational range: 3.7 - 17 solar radii
  • Spatial resolution: 50 arcsec
  • Latency: 15 min
  • Intensity range: 10-11 to 10-8 solar brightness.
 GOES-19 (GEO)
CCOR-2 Compact Coronagraph

Coronal White Light Images 

  • Observational range: 3.0 - 22 solar radii
  • Spatial resolution: 70 arcsec
  • Latency: 15 min
  • Intensity range: 10-11 to 10-8 solar brightness.
 SOL-1 (L1)
MAG Magnetometer

Vector Magnetic Field 

Two triaxial fluxgate magnetometers mounted on a boom (~ 5m and ~ 6.6m from the spacecraft)

  • Latency: ≤ 230 s
  • Observational range (per axis): ± 250 nT
  • Accuracy: |B| ≤ 100 nT: ≤ ± 0.5 nT; |B| > 100 nT: < ± 0.5%
 SOL-1 (L1)
STIS SupraThermal Ion Sensor

Suprathermal Ion and Electron Fluxes

Two solid state telescopes, one primarily measuring ion fluxes and the other primarily measuring electron fluxes. 

  • Time resolution: 2 sec.
  • FOV: 80 x 60 deg, 1 look direction (along the nominal Parker spiral direction)
  • Observational energy ranges: Ions: 25 keV to 6 MeV , Electrons: 25 keV to 250 keV
 SOL-1 (L1)
SWiPS Solar Wind Plasma Sensor

Solar Wind Thermal Plasma IonVelocity, Density and Temperature

Two identical top-hat Electrostatic Analyzers (ESA)

  • Latency: ≤ 236 sec.
  • Observational ranges (+H):
  • Velocity: 200-2500 km/s
  • Density: 0.1-150 cm-3
  • Temperature: 40,000 - 2,000,000 K (= 3.45 to 172.3 eV).
 SOL-1 (L1)

The Compact Coronograph CCOR-1 is NOAA’s first operational, space based coronograph to support space weather forecasting provided by NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). It is onboard NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 19 (GOES-19), launched on June 25, 2024. 

CCOR-1 images the solar corona (from 3.7 to 17 solar radii, with spatial resolution of about 50 arcseconds) in the visible wavelength range (480 nm to 730 nm) with a latency of 15 min from the geostationary orbit.  

CCOR-1 1st imagery was released in Oct 2024 and CCOR-1 data products achieved provisional maturity on Feb 24, 2025. One can see the latest CCOR-1 animations at the SWPC page(link is external) and access the science-quality and operational CCOR-1 data products in the tables below. 

Please refer to the CCOR-1 readme file for more information on data products, usage and caveats. 

Science-Quality CCOR-1 Data

Science Quality CCOR-1 Data
Product Filename and Data Access Link
CCOR-1 coronograph images - Level 1A sci_ccor1-l1a_g19
CCOR-1 coronograph images - Level 1B sci_ccor1-l1b_g19
CCOR-1 coronograph images - Level 2 sci_ccor1-l2_g19
CCOR-1 coronograph images - Level 3 sci_ccor1-l3_g19
CCOR-1 coronograph images - Monthly Minimum sci_ccor1-mm_g19
CCOR-1 coronograph images - Daily Median sci_ccor1-dm_g19

Operational CCOR-1 Data

Operational CCOR-1 Data
Product Filename and Data Access Link
CCOR-1 coronograph images - Level 0B CCOR1_0B(link is external)
CCOR-1 coronograph images - Level 1A CCOR1_1A(link is external)
CCOR-1 coronograph images - Level 1B CCOR1_1B(link is external)
CCOR-1 coronograph images - Level 2 CCOR1_2(link is external)
CCOR-1 coronograph images - Level 3 CCOR1_3(link is external)

Auxiliary Data

Auxiliary Data Products
Product Filename and Data Access Link
GOES-19 / CCOR-1 Predicted Orbit orb-pr(link is external)
GOES-19 / CCOR-1 Spacecraft attitude sc-att(link is external)

The Compact Coronograph CCOR-2 will be onboard NOAA’s SOL-1 satellite, planned for launch in the Fall of 2025.  

The Magnetometer MAG will be onboard NOAA’s SOL-1 satellite, planned for launch in the Fall of 2025.  

The Suprathermal Ion Sensor STIS will be onboard NOAA’s SOL-1 satellite, planned for launch in the Fall of 2025.  

The Solar Wind Plasma Sensor will be onboard NOAA’s SOL-1 satellite, planned for launch in the Fall of 2025.