spaceflight, 3 months ago

📆 February 9th, 2024 #NASA captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash on the lower right https://nasaviz.gsfc.nasa.gov/14479

#SpaceWeather #SolarStorm

spaceflight, 3 months ago

As positively charged protons from the #Sun ☀️ crash into #Earth’s 🌍 protective magnetic bubble, they create #electromagnetic currents that propagate across the globe. Pulses created by these currents could then go on to deform quartz in Earth’s crust, ultimately triggering #quakes. https://www.astronomy.com/science/powerful-eruptions-on-the-sun-might-trigger-earthquakes/

"We found clear correlation between proton density and the occurrence of large #earthquakes" https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67860-3

#SpaceWeather #SolarStorm #Earthquake #Astronomy

spaceflight, 3 months ago

#NASA : The Sun 🔆 emitted two strong solar flares, the first one peaking at 6:07 p.m. EST on Feb. 21, 2024, and the second peaking at 1:32 a.m. EST on 📆 Feb. 22, 2024 https://blogs.nasa.gov/solarcycle25/2024/02/22/sun-releases-two-strong-flares/

#SpaceWeather

spaceflight, 3 months ago

#ESA : The active region of #sunspots responsible for these flares is now approaching the centre of the #solar ☀️ disk and will soon point 🎯 directly towards #Earth 🌍 .
We expect further #flares from this region in the coming days. A #CME associated with any future flare 🔥 is very likely to cause #geomagnetic disturbances when it reaches our #planet. https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Space_weather/Sun_fires_off_largest_flare_of_current_solar_cycle

#SpaceWeather #CoronalMassEjection

spaceflight, 3 months ago

📆 20 February 2024 #SpaceWeather can create significant disruption to human technology both in #space 🌌 and on #Earth 🌍, including loss of #satellites 🛰️, damage to #power ⚡ grids and #communication 📶 blackouts. The majority of severe #geomagnetic storms at Earth are driven by coronal mass ejections. The current #forecasting 🔮 models have large uncertainties in arrival time ⌚, and struggle to predict the #severity of the event. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023SW003628

#SolarOrbiter #ESA #HELIO4CAST #SECCHI

spaceflight, 2 months ago

#NOAA said that "normally mitigable" problems with voltage ⚡ control was possible, as well as "frequent and longer periods of #GPS degradation." Geomagnetic storms can potentially impact power 🔋 systems, damage transformers and extend the northern lights to New York and Idaho. It can also potentially require flight ✈️ ground control to issue corrective actions for orientation 🧭. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/earth-geomagnetic-storm-what-that-means-what-you-can-expect/

#SpaceWeather #SolarStorm

spaceflight, 2 months ago

A powerful #SolarStorm ☀️ could make conditions in near-Earth space so unpredictable that it would be impossible to tell whether objects were on a collision course. One head-on #crash 💥 between two large #spacecraft can create thousands of out-of-control debris 🗑️ fragments that could remain in orbit for years. The #Starlink 🛰️ event proved to be just the catalyst the community needed https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/04/03/1090565/the-race-to-fix-space-weather-forecasting-before-next-big-solar-storm-hits/

#SpaceWeather #SpaceDebris #LEO

spaceflight, 1 month ago

A crash 💥 may have created more than 7,000 fragments in #space 🌌, likely increasing 📈 debris in #LEO by 50 per cent which could threaten more #satellites 🛰️. “We recently learned that the pass ended up being less than 10m 📏 apart” https://www.independent.co.uk/space/nasa-satellite-collision-russia-space-b2532393.html

#NASA #SpaceDebris

nyrath, 1 month ago

@spaceflight

Kessler effect, here we come...

spaceflight, 1 month ago

#Astroscale has chased down a 15 year-old rocket segment that's about 11m by 4m, with a mass of three tonnes. #AdrasJ will limit itself to an experiment in which it will try to slow the tumbling rate of the rocket stage. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68903801.amp

#SpaceDebris

spaceflight, 19 days ago

The largest piece weighs 45 kilograms. It’s likely that more #SpaceJunk will fall to #Earth 🌎 as more private #SpaceCompanies launch more missions and satellites to space https://www.astronomy.com/space-exploration/it-aint-no-garbage-canadian-farmer-finds-chunks-of-space-debris-in-a-remote-part-of-saskatchewan/

#SpaceDebris

spaceflight, 1 month ago

The potential global economic impact of #SpaceWeather events is significant and could incur losses totalling 38.4 billion € 💰 per day. The lack 🔮 of information about space weather can also cause significant damage to satellites and other space systems. A geomagnetic storm in February 📆 2022 interfered with a #Starlink launch, resulting in the company losing 🔥 38 out of 49 #satellites 🛰️ https://spacenews.com/space-weather-requires-our-attention-now-more-than-ever/

#SolarStorm

spaceflight, 30 days ago

The #CMEs travel at different speeds but are expected to arrive together at Earth by late Friday, 📆 May 10 or early Saturday, 📆 May 11. When fast-moving CMEs overtake slower CMEs in front of them, shock waves of their collision "do a good job sparking #geomagnetic storms when they strike Earth's magnetic field." https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2024/05/09/prepare-for-northern-lights-in-the-us-this-weekend-after-intense-solar-activity-say-scientists/

#SolarStorm