Solar particle events from a risk management perspective

Solar particle events pose a health risk to astronauts in space. Today, SPE forecasts are inadequate to provide advance warning with sufficient credibility to lead operators to initiate protective measures. However, research on SPEs and coronal mass ejections suggests that the space weather community is on the verge of substantial improvements in understanding solar energetic particle acceleration and propagation. This paper describes the impact of SPEs, reviews the physics of SPEs, discusses current SPE forecast tools, and describes an approach to provide the comprehensive space weather data necessary to implement physics-based SPE risk management.