NASA Postdoctoral Program: Sonification of Spacecraft Data from the Heliophysics Systems Observatory

The NASA Postdoctoral Program offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific opportunity focuses on understanding the fundamental physical processes that govern energy transfer from the Sun to the Earth through spacecraft data sonification. The research involves mapping data to sound from Heliophysics Systems Observatory missions such as Parker Solar Probe, Solar Orbiter, WIND, MMS, CLUSTER, and THEMIS. Spacecraft data sonification serves as an auditory equivalent to data visualization, leveraging the enhanced range and nonlinearity of human hearing to identify dynamical waveform changes not visible through traditional visualization. The research aims to characterize similarities and differences of sounds in each heliospheric regime and assess how data sonification can enhance both scientific understanding and accessibility for outreach purposes.