“We know it’s coming…” NASA conference warns of space storm
The Sun’s magnetic energy cycle peaks every 22 years and the rate of sun spot formation and attendant flares peaks every 11 years. The two events will combine in 2013 to produce potentially much stronger flares. Previous flares hitting the Earth have caused physical damage to power grids and with more satellites and more sensitive equipment in human hands year on year, the potential for disruption grows.
Britain could face widespread power blackouts and be left without critical communication signals for long periods of time, after the earth is hit by a once-in-a-generation “space storm”, Nasa has warned.
National power grids could overheat and air travel severely disrupted while electronic items, navigation devices and major satellites could stop working after the Sun reaches its maximum power in a few years.
Senior space agency scientists believe the Earth will be hit with unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares after the Sun wakes “from a deep slumber” sometime around 2013, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
In a new warning, Nasa said the super storm would hit like “a bolt of lightning” and could cause catastrophic consequences for the world’s health, emergency services and national security unless precautions are taken.
Scientists believe it could damage everything from emergency services’ systems, hospital equipment, banking systems and air traffic control devices, through to “everyday” items such as home computers, iPods and Sat Navs.
“We know it is coming but we don’t know how bad it is going to be,” Dr Richard Fisher, the director of Nasa’s Heliophysics division, said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.
“It will disrupt communication devices such as satellites and car navigations, air travel, the banking system, our computers, everything that is electronic. It will cause major problems for the world.
“Large areas will be without electricity power and to repair that damage will be hard as that takes time.”
The Telegraph quotes Dr Richard Fisher, the director of Nasa’s Heliophysics division, saying:
“We know it is coming but we don’t know how bad it is going to be … It will disrupt communication devices such as satellites and car navigations, air travel, the banking system, our computers, everything that is electronic. It will cause major problems for the world.
“Large areas will be without electricity power and to repair that damage will be hard as that takes time.”
Given that we cover hysterical religious apocalypse fears every so often, the skeptic is often unsure how to take an alleged scientifically based threat. The post-modern response is to treat it as exactly the same (a silly panic based on esoteric reasoning). The occasional failure of secular apocalypse fears (like the Millennium Bug) encourages this attitude, and a seemingly rational concern is unravelled when the prediction fails. But to treat all threats coming from science as relative to each other and relative to supernatural Armageddon stories would be cynical. In the case of global warming it becomes outright “denialism”. Where do mega-Sun flares fall on the spectrum of skepticism about theoretical global crises?
“We know it’s coming…” NASA conference warns of space storm,
It’s worth remembering that a lot of time and money went into making sure that the “secular apocalypse fears” of the Millennium Bug didn’t materialise. Which is not to say that they weren’t exaggerated – at least by some parties – but it’s hard to hypothesise over what might have happened without that work.