Artificial intelligence (AI) may soon protect us from solar flares, or at least let us know when they're coming.
How to Stay Safe When a Solar Storm Hits Earth
Israeli space weather researchers report that they have used AI to predict the sun’s radiation bursts up to 96 hours in advance. A massive solar explosion is likely to hit Earth with unpredictable consequences, but it could also destroy satellites.
"The consequences of such a storm could be wide-ranging, affecting electrical power delivery and grid safety, communications, satellite operations and collision avoidance, spacecraft charging and damage, radiation exposure to astronauts and commercial aircraft passengers and crews, and much more," Piyush Mehta, a professor of space systems at West Virginia University, told Lifewire in an email interview.
Scientists have tried for decades to predict damaging solar storms more accurately. But, Mehta said, "we still have a long way to go before we can accurately predict solar storms and the likelihood of their impact with confidence."
