Widespread solar storm hits spacecraft near sun, Earth and even Mars

A bright mass emerges from a red circle.

Space weather may seem like a story from a galaxy far, far away; But when solar storms affect us on Earth, we are directly affected. These storms northern Lights, for example. They can even cause temporary outages in our communications systems and power grid. of these sunlightwe can learn a lot – and a recent release NASA He shares that one in particular had a great story in 2021. As space agencies continue to send astronauts into orbit around our planet and begin planning for journeys even beyond, ways to monitor solar storms and their impacts will become increasingly critical. These storms have the potential to harm people. satellites and spacecraft; A. To be published by the European Space Agency from 2023 It was discussed for the first time how to do timeSuch energetic particles have been observed simultaneously on the surfaces of the Earth, the Moon, and the Moon. Anthem After the solar flare. This has raised significant concerns.

“Space radiation can pose a real danger to our exploration in space. solar system“Colin Wilson, ExoMars TGO project scientist, Shared in ESA’s statement. “Measuring high-level radiation events by robotic missions is critical to preparing for long-duration crewed missions.”

In an era when a historic number of satellites and other instruments are navigating the great unknown, NASA’s heliophysics missions are using spacecraft to gain deeper understanding. space Tell stories about what happens when particles are released into space after solar events. A. New article from NASA He shares an excellent example of efforts being made to study the effects of solar storms caused by the light of all lights: Sun. This solar flare occurred on April 17, 2021, and although these storms are not rare, with this particular event the storm was so common that six spacecraft in different locations and positions felt the explosion.

Relating to: Powerful solar flare unleashes massive plasma clouds and causes radio blackouts in the South Pacific (video)

High speed protons And electronsParticles, also known as solar energetic particles (SEPs), have been observed not only between the sun and the sun, but also by spacecraft. Soilbut it is as far away as between Earth and Mars!

According to NASA, this was the first time something like this had happened; We now have a completely different perspective on solar storms, using data from multiple spacecraft versus data from a single spacecraft that can only provide a local understanding.

Let’s use a famous Marvel hero as an example: Thor creates a solar storm to destroy a group of villains, producing a large number of SEPs that are sent into space. But he knows there are enemies on every side. This makes sure to create different balls from these SEPs that can go in different directions, covering a much larger area than a single beam can cover. With more “eyes” on a single event, we can better understand all of the different types of dangers that can come from a solar storm, which can sometimes pose a threat across a larger playing field.

“SEPs can damage our technologies such as satellites and GPSNina Dresing, from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Turku in Finland, said: In a statement. “Additionally, people in space and even in aircraft on polar routes may be exposed to harmful radiation during strong SEP events.”

Dresing and his team conducted further research after the event to learn where the SEPs came from, how the particles accelerated to dangerous speeds, and when they came into contact with each spacecraft. The results are as follows (shown in the diagram below.) The one closest to the explosion (reducing the impact) was the BepiColombo spacecraft, a joint US mission. European Space Agency And JAXA. BepiColombo is heading towards Mercury. The second region most affected by particles was NASA. Parker Solar Probe, sitting extremely close to the sun. ESA’s Solar Orbiter followed. Parker and Solar Orbiter They were on opposite sides of the flare when it happened.

A little closer to home, NASA’s Terrestrial Solar Correlations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft, STEREO-A, NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and NASA’s Wind spacecraft were hit by the event. Finally, the furthest and last spacecraft to detect particles from the explosion were the Mars orbiters: NASA’s MAVEN and ESA’s Mars Express.

Inside the dark outline of a circle are three dim circles, equally divided into eight segments. The left half and most of the upper slice are shaded in blue.

By determining position differences around the sun and recording how many electrons and protons were observed by each spacecraft, Dresing and his team were able to paint a much clearer picture of what happened after the solar eruption.

“Multiple sources likely contribute to this event, which explains its broad distribution,” said NASA team member and heliophysics research scientist Georgia de Nolfo. Goddard Space Flight Center The statement stated that he was in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It also appears that protons and electrons for this event may come from different sources. This is not the first time that people have hypothesized that electrons and protons have different sources for their acceleration; this measurement was unique due to the multiple acceleration perspectives, allowing scientists to better separate different processes, enabling electrons to accelerate.” and enabled him to confirm that protons could originate from different processes.”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply