SET’s High Accuracy Satellite Drag Model is the gold standard in baseline measurements of upper atmospheric density.
SET HASDM Thermospheric Density Database
SET is releasing approximately five years (2020-2025.5) of neutral mass densities from the High Accuracy Satellite Drag Model (HASDM). This release extends the existing HASDM database (https://spacewx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2020SW002682.pdf) which spanned 2000-2019. Like the previous database, the horizontal resolution is 1-hour in local solar time (LST), which is equivalent to 15° longitude, and 10° latitude. The vertical coverage ranges from 175 km altitude to 825km altitude with a 25 km resolution. The temporal resolution is 3 hours. Unlike the previous database, longitudes corresponding to each local time are now included in the data product.
The database release is based on one of two operational HASDM processes, referred to as HASDM1. HASDM1 is based on the J70 empirical model with a series of temperature correction parameters derived from satellite drag observations. HASDM2 is based on JBH09 and is not included here. The use of HASDM1 is motivated by consistency with the original database. We evaluated one year of overlap between this release and the existing one to verify that the processes are identical within numerical precision. This project was completed in collaboration with Omitron and funded by a NASA SBIR Phase I (80NSSC25C0354).
The HASDM database covers two full solar cycles, with 3-hour time resolution, 10°x 15° latitude-longitude bins, and 25km steps between 175-825 km altitude, from 2001/01/01-2019/12/31. The data is derived from radar observations from multiple calibration satellites.
SET provides data access free of charge to international science community for research purposes only. Commercial uses are permitted only through an explicit agreement with SET.
