10 spacecrafts hit by solar flare

Experts warned that powerful geomagnetic storm could result in trillions of dollars worth of damage

The European Space Agency has stated that 10 satellites and probes were rocked by a tremendous solar fare as it swept through the solar system.

The space weather event, termed as coronal mass ejection (CME), was observed by three satellites operating outside the path of the flare, namely ESA’s Proba-2, the ESA-NASA joint project SOHO and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, in October 2014.



This powerful solar eruption captured by SOHO in October 2014 was tracked through the Solar System by 10 spacecraft https://t.co/PMUxkTHBfnpic.twitter.com/TEs2N807ad

— ESA (@esa) August 15, 2017

ESA’s Olivier Witasse was leading the space agency’s Mars Express, a project which examined the effect of the comet Siding Spring on the atmosphere of the Red Planet. Amidst the research, the team detected signs of the CME on Mars, and in the subsequent investigation, accessed data collected by the 10 spacecrafts in its path.

“CME speeds with distance from the sun is not well understood, in particular in the outer Solar System,”said Witasse. “Thanks to the precise timings of numerous in situ measurements, we can better understand the process.” The data gives an indication of the speed, distance and direction of travel of the CME, with the effects of the flare reportedly felt by NASA’s Voyager-2, then at the edge of the solar system approaching Pluto.

After emission, the solar flare travelled at speeds of up to 1,000km per second (6,000 miles per second) before slowing to 500km/sec after reaching the Cassini space probe in November 2014. Fortunately, Earth was not in CME’s path, a dilemma that scientists say has potential to damage our lives.



Solar flare set to reach Earth after latest outburst https://t.co/1Y1ElfJ6oO

— RT (@RT_com) July 15, 2017

Experts have also warned that a powerful geomagnetic storm would likely knock out power grids, communication and satellite technology, which would result in trillions of dollars worth of damage to the world’s economy.

This article was originally published in RT.