Solar Storms are simple high-energy particles and gases released from the sun. Scientists have stated that after a study of the damage that these storms have been doing to the satellites, they have started to get an idea about how big of a threat these storms can be. Read this article to find out how dangerous these storms are and what threat they pose to humanity.
How Dangerous are Solar Storms
Recent research has shown that the Earth witnesses one major solar storm at least once every century. Until now these solar storms have mostly been celestial events. People have viewed them as comets and other such events.
They have not wreaked much damage to Earth. But given that now we have umpteen satellites and other technological objects floating in space, things may change. Scientists have stated that these solar storms can cause much damage to satellites leading to the loss of millions if not billions of dollars.
A professor of Colorado stated: “It’s not as rare as an asteroid or a comet hitting the Earth, but it’s something that really needs to be dealt with by policymakers. Certainly, in the longer term, it’s not a question of if but when.”
The Likely Harm
Scientists are estimating that a major solar storm can cripple communication on Earth. Internet and apps like Facebook, Instagram is very much dependent on satellite networks.
The professor said: “A failure in one kind of sector can propagate through the system and affect a lot of other things, and I think that’s probably the thing that worries me most about storms is that they can be widespread and can have consequences in all kinds of systems that we might not otherwise think about,”
Research is also ongoing to estimate the harm that these solar storms can inflict on projects of companies like SpaceX. These companies are planning to make human settlements possible on planets other than Earth-like Mars. Storms of massive scale can do much harm to the projects of these companies.
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