This week was far from quiet even in the vacuum of space. The Sun is having explosion after explosion, throwing radiation storms at Earth as it enters solar maximum, the period of maximum activity during its 11-year-cycle. Meanwhile, NASA launched an Earth-observation satellite mission that the Trump administration tried to stop from happening. We had an M-class solar flare earlier this week followed by an X-class one — the most powerful kind — on Friday. The flare caused a moderate S2 class solar radiation storm that rained down solar particles on Earth’s atmosphere. It also caused a massive shortwave radio blackout. While the effects of an S2 class are not much to worry about, the most powerful S5 class solar radiation storms can cause havoc upon humans and machinery. It can render some satellites to be rendered useless, causing loss of control and serious noise in image data or even permanent damage to solar panels. This could impede the satellite based navigation systems that our systems of commerce depend upon. It can also cause a complete blackout of high-frequency radio communications through the polar regions. The highest amount of risk is to astronauts in orbit and beyond. If they are on missions outside spacecraft, they would unavoidably be exposed to high radiation. Even people in high-flying aircraft at high latitudes could be exposed to dangerously high levels of radiation. The scary thing is, the possibility of such a radiation storm cannot be ruled out as the Sun approaches the solar maximum. The Sun is currently in what is labelled as Solar Cycle 25 and the solar minimum — the period between Cycle 24 and 25 when the Sun is least active — happened in December 2019. Solar Cycle 24 had an around-average length of about 11 years but it also had the fourth smallest intensity since regular solar record-keeping began with Solar Cycle 1 in 1755, according to the United States National Weather Service. This also made it the weakest solar cycle in 100 years. The latest prediction for the solar maximum places it somewhere between January and October of this year. It is difficult to predict exactly when the solar maximum will happen, and we will only know when it was six months after it happened. However, scientists from NOAA predict that Cycle 25’s peak will also be weak like Cycle 25. This means that we probably might not get to see an S5-class solar storm until years and maybe decades later when there are more people in space, and we are more dependent on satellite technology. As the Sun raged in the background, NASA launched the PACE satellite. The newest Earth observation satellite from NASA will help scientists better understand how climate change is affecting blooms of ocean phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are tiny creatures also known as microalgae. They produce energy from photosynthesis and they are eaten by everything from slightly larger plankton to humongous whales. This makes them the foundation of the ocean’s food web. But the PACE satellite almost never made it to orbit and it never would have, if the Trump administration had its way, according to Ars Technica. The administration called for NASA’s funding for PACE to be “zeroed out” during each four years he spent in the White House, along with other Earth science missions. These actions were condemned by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), which works on advancing Earth and space sciences. “These cuts are shortsighted and are harmful to the American economy, innovation, safety and security. They undermine our ability to ensure a robust rebuilding of infrastructure and will further hasten the loss of the best and brightest in our scientific workforce,” Chris McEntee, the AGU's chief executive at the time. While the Trump administration’s anti-science and climate change-denying was seen as little more than comedy material by many, this shows that such a philosophy can have real-world effects, harming our ability to respond to some of the greatest threats that humanity has faced since its birth.
