NASA and UK to team up to protect Earth from ‘DAMAGING’ space weather

Space weather can be catastrophic for Earth’s technology as radiation from the Sun can pummel our planet, causing the atmosphere to expand. This can affect satellites in orbit, potentially leading to a lack of GPS navigation, mobile phone signal and satellite TV such as Sky. Additionally, a surge of particles can lead to high currents in the magnetosphere, which can lead to higher than normal electricity in power lines, resulting in electrical transformers and power stations blow outs and a loss of power.

While a solar storm like this is exceedingly rare, with the last one coming in 1859, a recent study from Harvard University says adverse space weather in a modern world so reliant on technology could cost a staggering £16 trillion.

This is why the UK and the US are teaming up in a bid to battle space weather and protect Earth from what the Government describes as a “global concern”.

The UK Space Agency has invested £7 million, through the European Space Agency (ESA), to help create, alongside University College London (UCL), a ‘plasma analyser’ which will be placed in deep space and “give early warning of imminent, damaging space weather.”

Dr Graham Turnock, CEO UK Space Agency said: “Space weather has the potential to cause severe disruption to critical satellite and ground-based infrastructure, so it’s essential that we take steps to mitigate this threat through improving our ability to forecast extreme solar activity.

“The space weather mission projects our global influence by partnering with Europe and the USA, driving and protecting future UK knowledge and prosperity, and keeping Britain safe and secure from potential impacts of space weather.”

The UK and the ESA plan to send two monitoring posts into space within the next five years to assist the Solar Orbiter, which will launch next year.

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