I’ve been hearing this warning for years and years. I wonder if it will ever actually happen.
Might it be wise to build some rad-hardened GPS satellites to have on standby?
Yeah, but how is making them cool going to help?
“NASA confirms that their new GPS satellites are totally rad. They launch them to space via half pipe!”
(I’m joking.)
And third, the CME, which caused the upper atmosphere to swell outward as it soaked up the solar storm’s energy.
The atmospheric swelling is perhaps the most dangerous aspect of this triple threat, as it could increase satellites’ drag by up to 400%, pulling the spacecraft down to Earth, where they will either burn up in the atmosphere or crash to the planet’s surface.
Atmospheric swelling would have devastating effects on LEO megaconstellations, but I doubt that GPS satellites way out at 20,000 km would be noticeably affected.
I have no knowledge about this. How far out would the swelling extend?
Satellites are already designed for the majority of space weather. A big enough event, though, it’s not possible to absorb.
I’m going to guess that a bunch of the cheap startup satellites were already on shaky ground