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A vessel that navigates on light could offer a fresh perspective on solar flares that may interfere with contemporary electrical and navigation systems

Waves of solar wind can sprout larger solar events, disturbing Earth’s magnetic field; however, they are too challenging to detect with our existing single-location alert system, as revealed by a recent study from the University of Michigan.

Nevertheless, a group of spacecraft, including one that navigates using sunlight, could assist in identifying the tornado-like phenomena in a timely manner to safeguard equipment both on Earth and in orbit.

The findings of this study derive from computer simulations of a vast cloud of plasma exploding from the sun and traversing the solar system. By covering features that span distances three times that of Earth’s diameter down to thousands of miles, the researchers were able to discern how smaller, tornado-like spirals of plasma and magnetic field—referred to as flux ropes—emerge as critical features by themselves.

“Our simulation illustrates that the magnetic field within these vortices can be intense enough to instigate a geomagnetic storm and pose significant challenges,” stated Chip Manchester, research professor of climate and space sciences and engineering and the lead author of the study released in the Astrophysical Journal.

In May 2024, a geomagnetic storm triggered high-voltage power lines, disrupted satellite trajectories, and compelled certain airplanes to alter their routes. It also scrambled navigation systems on tractors in the Midwest, with NASA estimating that each affected farm incurred an average of $17,000 in damages. For the sake of scientific exploration and enhanced warning systems ahead of such events, this U-M study was funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation.

Geomagnetic storms are initiated by magnetic fields within the solar wind, a bubble of plasma emanating from the sun and surrounding the solar system. Similar to wind on Earth, solar wind varies in patterns that constitute space weather. Eruptions from the sun produce the most extreme space weather—dense, rapidly moving clouds of plasma known as coronal mass ejections that extend 34 million miles, on average.

However, researchers have also identified relatively smaller flux ropes within the solar wind, measuring between 3,000 and 6 million miles in width. These structures are too minor for conventional simulations of coronal mass ejections, which can only depict features exceeding 7 million miles, yet they are also too vast for models usually employed to explore magnetic fields and plasma particles in the solar wind. The new simulation enables researchers to observe these intermediate-sized features alongside large coronal mass ejections.

The U-M simulation indicated that the tornado-like flux ropes develop from the coronal mass ejections as they navigate through slower solar wind, hurling aside rotating masses of plasma much like a snowplow dispersing snow. Some tornadoes fizzle out, yet more durable vortices may arise during interactions with adjacent streams of fast and slow solar wind. Telescopes aimed at the sun monitor for explosions to alert us about adverse space weather, but for flux ropes, the researchers assert that’s insufficient.

“If threats are developing in space between the sun and Earth, we cannot solely observe the sun,” mentioned study co-author Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti, associate research scientist of climate and space sciences and engineering. “This is a matter of national safety. We need to actively locate structures like these Earth-bound flux ropes and forecast how they will appear at Earth to generate dependable space weather alerts for electrical grid planners, airline operators, and agricultural workers.”

The solar wind can only instigate geomagnetic storms when its magnetic field points strongly southward. Spacecraft positioned between Earth and the sun already assist scientists in issuing space weather alerts by gauging the velocity of the solar wind, along with the intensity and direction of its magnetic field. However, a solar eruption directed away from Earth, or one with magnetic fields pointing northward, may still propel vortices with magnetic fields oriented southward toward Earth. Those tornadoes would remain undetected if they bypass the probes stationed at L1.

“Imagine if you could only observe a hurricane from afar using data from a single wind gauge,” stated Manchester. “You’d notice a variation in the data, but you wouldn’t perceive the storm’s complete structure. This is the current predicament with single-spacecraft systems. We require perspectives from multiple space weather stations.”

The researchers aspire to deliver that multiprobe perspective on solar tornadoes with a network of spacecraft called the Space Weather Investigation Frontier, or SWIFT, conceived in a NASA mission concept study under Akhavan-Tafti’s leadership.

In the existing proposal, four probes would be positioned in a triangular-pyramid formation, approximately 200,000 miles apart. Three identical probes would occupy each vertex of the pyramid’s base, situated in a plane around L1. A final “hub spacecraft,” located beyond L1, would act as the apex of the pyramid, oriented toward the sun. This arrangement would enable SWIFT to observe how the solar wind transforms en route to Earth, and its hub closer to the sun could expedite space weather alerts by 40%.

The location of the apex would generally necessitate an impractical volume of fuel to combat the sun’s gravitational pull, but NASA engineers, through their Solar Cruiser mission, designed an aluminum sail that could allow the probe to remain beyond L1. The sail would cover about one-third of a football field, enabling it to capture enough photons to sustain the spacecraft’s position without consuming fuel.

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