Experts warned of the solar storms' threat to the satellite networks and communication systems as intense solar flares continue.
They released such a scary notification after Almanac said the Sun began a new 11-year solar cycle in December 2019 and is currently approaching a "solar maximum" in 2025.
These storms, however, are not unusual, according to space weather specialists, and are only predicted to get worse in the coming years, suggesting that it might also damage more satellites in the future.
But Science Times earlier reported that Elon Musk's SpaceX suffered the effects of the solar danger that surfaced earlier this year.
After a geomagnetic storm damaged the Earth's atmosphere and sent around 40 of the Starlink broadband satellites to an early, fiery end, the corporation replaced practically the entire launch.
The US satellite SpaceX Starlink 5 is seen in the night passing in the sky above Svendborg on South Funen, Denmark, on April 21, 2020. - SpaceX is scheduled to launch Falcon 9 for the 7th mission of the constellation of networked satellites known as Starlink, on April 22, 2020 at 3:37 PM EST from the NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, US.
How Solar Flares Could Easily Destroy Starlink, Affect Communication Systems
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration usually classify geomagnetic storms on a scale of G1 to G5.
It was predicted that the storm that damaged the Starlink satellites earlier this year would be a G1.
The G5 is an intense storm, and such are quite rare. On the other hand, this level poses a hazard to things like electrical grids and spacecraft operations, but not to people.
While these storms pose little danger to people on the ground, they can increase the drag on satellites in low Earth orbit.
As a result, the storm might alter a spacecraft's orbit or, in the case of the Starlink satellites, cause them to reenter the atmosphere and burn up.
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Erika Palmerio, a research scientist at Predictive Science, told CNBC that an increased radiation from geomagnetic storms could harm spacecraft, burning instruments, or detectors aboard.
The Starlink satellites are "extremely tiny," yet they are powered by gigantic solar panels, giving each spacecraft "giant" parachutes.
Furthermore, there is no minimum safe height in orbit because of the Earth's "spongy" atmosphere.
Minor errors are common and usually fixable, while outright failures are uncommon.
Geomagnetic storms can also damage the ability of satellites to communicate or send signals to Earth using radio waves. Many communication technologies like GPS, use radio waves. GPS is used in many industries like aviation, maritime, robotics, transportation, farming and military, relies on radio waves.
During geomagnetic storms, changes in the ionosphere also alter how radio waves travel through it, making it difficult to lock GPS signals or throw off the position by a few meters, which renders GPS useless for applications that require accurate positioning.
Satellites are critical to modern society's operation, and protecting space assets against space weather is a key research area.
Experts can mitigate some threats by using radiation-resistant materials or shielding electronics from radiation. However, there is only so much shielding that can be done in the event of a major geomagnetic storm.
Cause of Space Weather
According to The Conversation, the Sun continuously emits a constant stream of charged particles into space. The solar wind is what we call it. The solar magnetic field is also carried by the solar wind.
On rare occasions, localized oscillations on the Sun can discharge extremely intense bursts of particles in a specific direction. A geomagnetic storm develops when Earth is trapped in the path of an enhanced solar wind caused by one of these events.
The two most common origins of geomagnetic storms are coronal mass ejections (plasma explosions from the Sun's surface) and solar wind that escapes via coronal holes (low-density regions in the Sun's outer atmosphere).
The speed at which the ejected plasma or solar wind reaches Earth is essential; the faster the plasma or solar wind reaches Earth, the more violent the geomagnetic storm will be. The average speed of solar wind is roughly 900,000 miles per hour (1.4 million kph). Strong solar events, on the other hand, can produce winds that are up to five times faster.
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Check out more news and information on Starlink in Science Times.
