Solar flares are serious business for scientists who closely study our massive star. The ejecta that cause solar storms directly affect the spacecraft that are navigating the planetary system. The fact of not being under the protection of the atmosphere is a vulnerable exposure to solar energy.
And although it is normal that from time to time, during solar cycles, the Sun expels matter of its own composition, there was a day when things got out of control. A powerful solar storm was about to render some five NASA spacecraft unusable, including the International Space Station (ISS).
It would have been a code red emergency, since the losses would not only be material, but in the case of the ISS, the astronauts who crew it would have been in danger of being cut off from the Earth.
The event we are talking about was recorded on July 15, 2021. It was, according to NASA scientists, one of the strongest that has been observed in recent years, and caused a significant increase in radiation in space.
It affected five spacecraft in particular:
- The Juno space probewhich is in orbit around Jupiter.
- The Parker Solar Probe space probewhich is approaching the Sun.
- The Hubble Space Telescope.
- The Chandra X-ray Space Telescope.
- The International Space Station.
The point is that this solar storm ejected a lot of material known as solar energetic particles (SEPs). These are protons and electrons that travel at high speed and it was the first time in history that they reached spacecraft that are distant from the Sun and the Earth.
By simply looking at the five ships it affected, we can see that the particles traveled throughout the Solar System.
“SEPs can damage our technology, such as satellites, and disrupt GPS. Furthermore, humans in space or even on airplanes on polar routes can suffer harmful radiation during strong SEP events,” said Nina Dresing of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Turku in Finland, according to a review by the POT.