The Biggest Threat to Space Commerce Is the Sun
A new solar mission aims to gain a deeper understanding of the star’s crucial role in space weather. Billions of dollars worth of satellites may depend on it.
On the list of Bad Stuff That Could Happen, a massive plasma ejection from the sun isn’t an everyday worry, falling somewhere between an irrevocably warming climate and a shortage of soy milk in the office fridge.
Yet our star’s output plays a critical role in space weather, which carries potentially large implications for satellites, mobile phones, airlines and electrical grids—in other words, the underpinnings of 21st century society. In March 1989, a solar storm that struck Earth zapped the grid in Quebec, Canada, causing most of the province to lose electricity and doing billions of dollars in damage.