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HOW TO DEFEAT A SOLAR STORM: Is it bonkers? Or brilliant? You decide: A new paper published in the June issue of Space Weather describes how a small fleet of spacecraft could be used to partially neutralize approaching CMEs--even Carrington-class monsters--by releasing clouds of gas in the CME's path. The editors of Science magazine called it an "orbital airbag" for solar storms.
Above: An artist's concept of the "air bag" solar storm defense--not to scale!
The researchers, led by Brian Walsh of Boston University, got their inspiration from Earth itself. During major geomagnetic storms, Earth's upper atmosphere naturally releases a fountain of oxygen ions into space. These ions "mass-load" the magnetic field, reducing magnetic reconnection and, in effect, making Earth's magnetic field harder to push around.
The new study asks a simple question: What if we amplified this natural defense using spacecraft?
Walsh's team simulated the great geomagnetic storm of May 2024 and found they could cut some of its effects by as much as 84% using six spacecraft releasing 384 tons of a barium-like gas.
That might sound like a lot of gas, but consider this: A typical CME weighs about a billion tons. The proposed shield contains less than one millionth as much mass, yet still weakens the storm's impact. Their scheme punches far above its weight.
Now for the problems: Once the spacecraft deploy their defenses, their tanks would quickly empty. A refill requires launching about six Starship-class tankers. Also, the environmental effects are unknown. Injecting hundreds of tons of ionized gas into Earth's magnetosphere could alter the radiation belts, interfere with satellites, and create an artificial plasma environment unlike anything near Earth today. Researchers still need to understand these risks.
Indeed, the paper is best seen not as a concrete proposal but rather as a provocative thought experiment. Defeating solar storms is within our reach. We just don't know if it's a good idea. Let the conversation begin.
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