Jackson

Why US Lists Space Weather as National Risk ( )Most Americans never think about space weather until the lights go out, the GPS stops working, or satellite TV freezes during a solar storm. But the U.S. government has spent over a decade treating space weather as a serious national risk, on par with hurricanes, pandemics, … Read more

Shortwave radio operators around the world know the feeling. You are in the middle of a solid contact on the 20-meter band, signals are strong, and then, without any warning, the band goes completely dead. No noise, no fading, no gradual decline. Just silence. If you have experienced this, you have likely been hit by … Read more

Modern farming runs on precision. When you plant corn or soybeans with GPS-guided tractors, you expect accuracy within centimeters. That technology transforms how we grow food across the Midwest and around the world. But what happens when the sun itself disrupts those signals? That is exactly what space weather does to precision agriculture during planting … Read more

Every time you tap your card at a coffee shop, transfer money online, or watch stock prices tick across a screen, there is an invisible thread holding the entire system together. That thread is GPS timing. And right now, as we move through the peak of Solar Cycle 25, the Sun is actively testing how … Read more

Ham radio operators watch solar activity before going on the air because the Sun’s radiation directly controls the ionosphere, the charged layer of Earth’s upper atmosphere that reflects radio signals back toward the ground for long-distance communication. When solar activity shifts, the ionosphere changes within minutes to hours, opening some frequency bands while closing others. … Read more

On May 10, 2024, the most powerful geomagnetic storm in over two decades slammed into Earth’s magnetic field. The event, later named the “Gannon storm” after space weather researcher Jennifer Gannon, triggered auroras visible as far south as Florida and Puerto Rico. But beyond the light show, something else happened: airlines began quietly rerouting transpolar … Read more

If you have ever been on the air as a ham radio operator when a solar flare erupts, you know the feeling. Your signal is strong, contacts are rolling in, and then silence. The band goes dead in minutes. What happened is a direct consequence of how the ionosphere D layer absorbs radio waves during … Read more

Astronauts take shelter during solar radiation storms because high-energy particles from the Sun can penetrate spacecraft walls and deliver dangerous doses of radiation in a matter of hours. Without adequate shielding, crew members risk acute radiation sickness, long-term cancer risk, and even life-threatening health consequences. In November , three Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space … Read more

During solar storms, satellites face four primary threats: enhanced atmospheric drag that causes premature orbital decay, radiation damage that degrades electronics and solar cells, spacecraft charging that creates destructive voltage differentials, and disrupted communications and tracking. In February 2022, a moderate G2 geomagnetic storm caused up to 40 of SpaceX’s 49 newly launched Starlink satellites … Read more

Have you ever watched the northern lights dance across the sky and wondered why some displays glow vivid green while others shimmer red, blue, or even pink? The answer comes down to a single factor: altitude. How altitude determines the colors you see in an aurora is a question of physics, chemistry, and the layered … Read more