Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are giant explosions of solar wind and magnetic fields. These explosive events either escape off of the sun into the solar wind, or are ejected above the solar corona. They can travel in any direction, including towards Earth, and have significant implications for life and technology on our planet. Reports indicate that recent displays caused by CMEs have been visible across the United States, reaching locations as far south as Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and north Florida.
Through time, CMEs have consistently provided extreme hazards to our built infrastructure. The Carrington Event of 1859 remains the largest solar storm on record. It wreaked unimaginable havoc by taking out telegraph lines across the globe. In other instances, CMEs have opened up new opportunities for great impact in recent years. One of the best-documented events took place in 1989 when a CME disabled part of Quebec’s power grid, plunging some six million people into darkness for nine hours. Additionally, in November 2015 CMEs knocked out air traffic control in Sweden and other European airports, creating over a million dollars in damage and chaos.
It’s a beautiful place — where the temperature at the origin of a CME can measure an astonishing 1.8 million degrees Celsius. Each of these events releases equal or more energy than 2.2 million megatons of TNT. The estimated mass at play on the fault is a mind-boggling 270 million tonnes. CMEs are potent phenomena, but they rarely pose a direct risk to human life. They can cause geomagnetic storms that mess with space weather patterns in near-Earth space.
Already, almost 11,000 satellites circle Earth. 136 of those belong to India. Their position in space puts them directly in the path of the damage caused by CMEs. Just last February 2022, a CME was responsible for the sudden failure of 38 commercial satellites in orbit. This event brought to light the serious risk that solar activity has on our space infrastructure.
Beyond the beauty, these solar phenomena represent a priceless opportunity for scientific investigation. Investigating CMEs is an important goal of India’s first solar mission, Aditya-L1. The mission’s primary goal is to advance our knowledge of solar activity and its impact on Earth and our technological infrastructure. Scientists are working hard to dissect and demystify how coronal mass ejections (CMEs) affect life as we know it here on Earth. Their goal is to take what they learn to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure.