Living With a Star

Living With a Star program logo

Living With a Star (LWS) is a NASA scientific program to study those aspects of the connected Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is a crosscutting initiative with goals and objectives relevant to NASA's Exploration Initiative, as well as to NASA's Strategic Enterprises. The program is managed by the Heliophysics Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

LWS is composed of three major components: scientific investigations on spaceflight platforms study different regions of the Sun, interplanetary space, and geospace; an applied science Space Environment Testbeds program where protocols and components are tested; and a Targeted Research and Technology Program. Major spacecraft include the Van Allen Probes, Solar Dynamics Observatory, and the Parker Solar Probe.