Protecting satellites from solar flares
Satellite vulnerability: Photo from Wikipedia Commons
One possible solution
The high energy particles spewed out of sunspots can knock out satellites and electric power grids. To prevent this from happening the US Air Force and the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have proposed using very low frequency radio waves to flush particles from radiation "belts" above Earth and dump them into the upper atmosphere over either one or several days.
What are the consequences?
This deluge of dumped charged particles would temporarily change the ionosphere from a "mirror" that bounced high frequency radio waves around the planet to a "sponge" that soaked them up, says Dr Craig Rodger of Otago University's physics department.
“Airplane pilots and ships would lose radio contact and some Pacific Island nations could be isolated for as long as six to seven days, depending on the system’s design and how it was operated,” he says.
GPS would likely also suffer large-scale disruptions, as signals between ground users and satellites were scrambled by the ionosphere, he added. Otego media release
Is it worth it?
Can people like Joe can go without geocaching for a week. Smart bombs also would need to take a breather because they use GPS to find their targets. We are seeing a minimum of sunspot activity right now. Sunspots peak every eleven years. The last memorable blast from the sun was July 14, 2000 so we need to make up our minds before 2011.
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I wonder if SWANsat has thought of this?
Wayde's Blog: SWANsat to Turn Earth into Wi-Fi Hotspot
Imagine a series of at least three geosynchronous orbital satellites providing wireless Internet access to the entire world. That’s exactly what a project called SWANsat or Super-Wide Area Network Satellite plans to do by the year 2011. They intend to be a global broadband Internet service provider that can facilitate up to 600 million connections per satellite. All you need is a handheld mobile device to connect to the system.
Yes, we have thought of solar flares and other problems that could damage the spacecraft. Our vendor, IOSTAR Corporation, tells us that the spacecraft will be "space hardened" to withstand to the highest possible degree any solar radiation flares that the sun may throw at the earth. We expect the SWANsat constellation to be functioning when other satellites have gone dead. And remember, the SWANsat constellations are not solar powered.
Would it kock out the power grids? if so, how long would it take to get them back up?
Satellites can be disabled.
This deluge of dumped charged particles would temporarily change the ionosphere from a "mirror" that bounced high frequency radio waves around the planet to a "sponge" that soaked them up.
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