{"id":250858,"date":"2025-05-21T18:12:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T18:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/the-u-s-ran-its-first-space-weather-preparedness-drill-heres-how-it-went\/"},"modified":"2025-05-21T18:12:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T18:12:33","slug":"the-u-s-ran-its-first-space-weather-preparedness-drill-heres-how-it-went","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=250858","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. Ran Its First Space Weather Preparedness Drill\u2014Here’s How It Went"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Ironically, the exercise last May was interrupted by a real scenario, when Earth was hit by the strongest solar storm in two decades<\/h2>\n
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Margherita Bassi<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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NASA\u2019s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured this image of extreme solar activity on May 10, 2024.
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In May last year, the United States government hosted its first-ever \u201cSpace Weather Tabletop Exercise,\u201d a hypothetical practice test to determine whether the country is prepared for space weather events, such as intense geomagnetic storms.<\/p>\n

The exercise brought together agencies such as NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Homeland Security to talk through how they would handle such a threat\u2014and the risks it would pose to Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinimizing the impacts of such storms requires close coordination, and this meeting was their chance to practice,\u201d reads a NASA statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The outcome of the test? State and federal agencies found out they need all the practice they can get<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, the exercise demonstrated the need for better coordination to produce meaningful [space weather] notifications that describe the potential impacts to critical infrastructure,\u201d reads the post-exercise report<\/a>, \u201cas well as emphasized the importance of the whole-of-government planning approach for significant [space weather] events.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geomagnetic storms are strong disturbances in Earth\u2019s magnetic field, and they can result from solar storms<\/a>: explosions of material including energy, particles and magnetic fields from the sun\u2019s surface, which can include solar flares<\/a> and coronal mass ejections<\/a>. Geomagnetic storms can wreck satellites<\/a>, trigger radio blackouts<\/a> and power outages and endanger astronauts by exposing them to intense radiation, according to the statement.<\/p>\n

Extreme geomagnetic storms only occur every few decades, per Live Science<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Tereza Pultarova. But our society has become so dependent on vulnerable technologies that the impact of space weather today could be significant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On May 8 and 9, 2024, participants at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland and the Federal Emergency Management Agency office in Colorado pretended it was January 2028, and they had to work through hypothetical scenarios involving harmful solar activity. At the beginning of the exercise, NOAA\u2019s Space Weather Prediction Center notified participants that an active region on the sun had rotated to a point that, if it exploded, it could impact Earth. To make matters worse, two NASA astronauts were in a spacecraft orbiting the moon, with two of their colleagues currently on the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

The scenario quickly introduced harmful solar activity. Hypothetical effects included satellites, astronauts and airplanes exposed to intense radiation; disrupted or blocked radio communication and GPS systems; degraded communication with orbiting satellites and widespread power outages.<\/p>\n

One issue the report highlights is that space weather forecasters have very little time to determine the potential impact of the sun\u2019s coronal mass ejections (CMEs). They can\u2019t measure the CME until it passes satellites at the first Lagrange point<\/a>, a gravitationally stable location that\u2019s about 930,000 miles from Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never know \u2026 what the CME is composed of and what to make of it until it gets just one million miles from Earth, where it\u2019s only 15 to 45 minutes away,\u201d Shawn Dahl<\/a>, senior space weather forecaster at the Space Weather Prediction Center, told Gizmodo<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Passant Rabie in August. \u201cThat\u2019s when we can see what the CME is composed of. How strong is it magnetically? What\u2019s the speed of its movement? Is it going to connect with Earth?\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the NASA statement, the exercise demonstrated \u201ca critical need\u201d for \u201cmore robust forecasting capabilities of space weather drivers and effects.\u201d The report also emphasizes the need to educate the public, continue developing response plans, make critical infrastructure less vulnerable and collaborate with both the private sector and international agencies.<\/p>\n

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What Happened During the Biggest Geomagnetic Storm in More than 20 Years<\/p>\n

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