Solar

On 7/28/14 10:04 AM, sraj sraj99@... [spacesettlers] wrote:

>

> It looks as if we will need special satellites to look out for these
> 'superstorms'.
>
> Then the whole planet will have to drill, so as to be able to shut down
> systems within hours.

Well, clearly THAT'S not going to happen. However, I don't think it's
necessary either. Using words like "firestorm" is pure hyperbole (which
even perfectly respectable scientists will occasionally slip into when
speaking with the press -- and the press loves it, of course).

Basically, we're talking about a thin plasma of charged particles. This
is almost entirely blocked by Earth's magnetic field, so anything down
here (or in LEO) will not experience any noticeable increase in
background radiation. Above LEO is another matter; sensitive
electronics on high satellites could be damaged, or any people up there
without adequate shielding could absorb damaging amounts of radiation.
Fortunately these particles are quite low-energy, and easily blocked by
relatively small amounts of shielding. For space settlers, the steady
flux of high-energy galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) is a much bigger
problem, and if you have enough shielding to block that, no CME is going
to bother you.

CMEs can cause one other problem on Earth: they cause large currents in
the magnetosphere, which can induce high currents in big conductors lake
power lines. This happens especially at high latitudes, and of course,
causes a problem only where electric transformers and power stations are
inadequately sized to handle the load. Rather than planet-wide drills,
it would be much easier and cheaper to just beef up these electrical
components.

Of course there are large parts of the world (including the U.S.) where
the power system is old, fragile, and far too coupled, so that a loss in
one area causes cascading losses in other areas. This can cause things
like (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003). But
large-scale blackouts are more annoying than catastrophic. Each time
one happens, we improve our electrical infrastructure.

This is unlike, say, a meteor strike, which can instantly kill millions
of people if it hits in an unfortunate spot. So, yeah, we should watch
out for CMEs, but I wouldn't list them high on the list of space-based
threats.

> Can these superstorms affect power lines? Probably they could affect
> solar power systems?

Power lines, yes, solar power systems, no. In fact the more we rely on
distributed power generation (such as solar), the less vulnerable we are
to large-scale blackouts (from any cause).

Best,
- Joe