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Approaching Solar Storm Forces ISS to Take Cover
vichyschwa writes "A Coronal Mass Ejection resulting from an X3 Solar Flare earlier today is forcing the ISS and Shuttle astronauts to take cover and may result in communication disruptions. Last week, the same sunspot generated what astronomers described as a rarely imaged solar tsunami. The activity began with an X9 flare Dec. 5. According to Spaceweather.com, "satellites may experience some glitches and reboots, but astronauts are in no danger." However, the astronauts were ordered to a protective area of the space station as a precaution."
When they can get cool powers like the Fantastic Four?
"...described as a rarely imaged solar tsunami.." SURF'S UP!!!!.......oh, wait......
I was confused by this, so I looked it up.
From the Wikipedia article on Solar Flares: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Flare
Solar flares are classified as A, B, C, M or X according to the peak flux (in watts per square meter, W/m2) of 100 to 800 picometer X-rays near Earth, as measured on the GOES spacecraft. Each class has a peak flux ten times greater than the preceding one, with X class flares having a peak flux of order 10-4 W/m2. Within a class there is a linear scale from 1 to 9, so an X2 flare is twice as powerful as an X1 flare, and is four times more powerful than an M5 flare. The more powerful M and X class flares are often associated with a variety of effects on the near-Earth space environment. Although the GOES classification is commonly used to indicate the size of a flare, it is only one measure.
Lets hope the results from this storm end up more entertaining THAN the Fantastic Four movie.
"A Coronal Mass Ejection resulting from an X3 Solar Flare earlier today [CC] is forcing the ISS and Shuttle astronauts to take cover..."
I may be reading something wrong, or just may not know the exact details, but how exactly would the ISS "take cover"? Aside from the orbital path around the earth, there's little to hide under up there.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
then or than, thats a pretty small grammar error, especially on slashdot
_Let's_ hope the results from this storm end up more entertaining THAN the Fantastic Four movie.
If you're going to be picky.
It's friday, so I get into work early, before lunch even. The phone rings. Shit!
I turn the page on the excuse sheet. "SOLAR FLARES" stares out at me. I'd better read up on that. Two minutes later I'm ready to answer the phone.
"Hello?" I say.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, I'VE BEEN TRYING TO GET YOU ALL MORNING?!"
I hate it when they shout at me early in the morning. It always puts me in a bad mood. You know what I mean.
"Ah, yes. Well, there's been some solar activity this morning, it always disrupts electronics..." I say, sweet as a sugar pie.
"Huh? But I could get through to my friends?!"
"Yes, that's entirely possible, solar activity is very unpredictable in it's effects. Why last week, we had some files just dissappear from a guys account while he was working on it!"
"Really?"
"Straight Up! Hey, do you want me to check your account?"
"Yes please, I've got some important stuff in there!"
"Ok, what's your username..."
He tells me. Honestly, it's like shooting a fish in a barrel. Twice. With an Elephant Gun. At point blank range. In the head.
1989 was pretty entertaining.
FairTax baby!
"...and may result in communication disruptions."
A disruption in communications can mean only one thing...invasion!
A Coronal Mass Ejection resulting from an X3 Solar Flare earlier today
Too much Mexican beer after a day on the beach, perhaps.
Oh, snap!
According to the xoft decoder hosted on Sourceforge, decoding that results in gibberish. So no, I cannot dig it.
CNN, the shuttle should be able to escape it! http://shogun.shafted.com.au/temp/cnnsucks.jpg
I hope this doesn't mean that they have to postpone some of the important work that they're .... oh, yeah, never mind. Sorry.
So why don't they make satellites out of the stuff astronauts are made of?
When we have recreational vehicles using solar sails that is.
(No, you don't need to point out how that is only maybe possible for the moments before destruction when reasonaby close to a supernova.)
!sig
I tell you, it's happening because we pollute too much planet earth !
Image of the referenced tsunami
Although some people think nonliving objects can all of a sudden evolve into living objects it wouldn't work out too well to go the other way and make a satellite out of muscles and bones. Just think of the gooey mess when you change the batteries. By the way, astronauts are still vulnerable. Ever hear of radiation poisoning? Why else would the astronauts have been told to go into the safest part of the ISS during the storm?
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
Because, um, we can't? I doubt organic computing has advanced far enough. Last I heard, a mouse brain could auto-pilot a plane, but I don't think that is what scientists are really worried about. A few brief glitches doesn't justify making the enormous investment to create not only wholly organic computers, but completely organic sensors (like gyroscopes. How are we going to make an organic version of that?) We don't have the knowledge or the means to do it. Besides, I have a feeling that an organic satellite would have more problems in space than a mechanical one. A mechanical one would have to worry about a few solar storms and collisions, both of which are only intermittent concerns. Organic satellites would have to worry about a lot of things, like solar wind which would be constantly ablating the surface (think sunburn). An organic satellite would need to feed itself. The only organic means of converting sunlight into energy that I can think of requires a steady supply of water and carbon dioxide. Out of curiosity, how would we communicate with it? Moving on, I guess you could say that an organic satellite could heal itself. A big plus, until you realize that means that it can also develop cancer. I know, it sounds retarded, but there's a lot of radiation in space. Even with shielding, that's a lot of exposure. Instead of having to go on missions to replace a faulty sensor or transmitter, we'll need to send missions to perform surgeries in zero gravity. Sounds fun.
Anyways, all of these concerns are a little academic, especially considering the fact that they don't exist!
Before you die, you see DoubleRing...
I would hate to be the guy that has to look like The Thing after this passes.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Gee can we say Fantastic Four anyone... (hope they got a hot chick to play Sue Richards)...
Regards,
MBC1977,
then or than, that's a pretty small grammar error, especially on slashdot
Terrorists can't threaten a country's freedom and democracy. Only lawmakers and voters can do that.
Uuhhhh, guys, who's got the key?
The last time one of these things happened, we had incredible views of the northern lights even in southern Europe.
So I would suggest keeping an eye on the northern sky tonight, we might be in for a truly entertaining light show!
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
The only thing I'd want to 'take cover' of is a very particular part of my body which does not react well long-term to radiation. Think of the children!
Then or than, that's a pretty small grammatical error, especially on Slashdot.
I love my sig.
global warming.
I thought it said "Approaching Solar Storm Forces IIS to Take Cover"
Oh well.
The space shuttle/station currently has a problem with Word virus. They haven't found a solution to it yet so they have banned attachment in email to and from the computers on board the shuttle. Maybe they could rely on the solar storm to wipe all Word documents from their computer?
It was funny to listen to the space shuttle commander asking mission control: "Do you have any solution to.... I don't know if i should say this.... virus problem we have with Word documents?". Maybe they try to keep a lid on it since the next space tourist to the ISS is an old Microsoft employee?
Just wait until the SECCHI/STEREO mission images start showing up.
STEREO launched in October and things are looking good!
Part of its primary mission is to image CMEs, which are very difficult to see when they are pointed straight at you.
It uses two satellites (A=Ahead and B=Behind) to image the sun from different angles.
>like gyroscopes. How are we going to make an organic version of that?
You've been carrying around examples your entire life. Fluid-filled loops, one for each axis, little hairs along the inside to detect fluid rotation.
Try this. Sit up straight in a swivel chair, kick it into a spin, maintain the spin until you get used to it. Then quickly lean forward. You will then know exactly how a gyroscope feels when you try to tilt it. Have a bucket handy or do it on an empty stomach.
Besides, look how well organic technology worked for the Vorlons and the Shadows. Unless you're going to argue that it's a bad idea because they were both fictional and they both lost.
(like gyroscopes. How are we going to make an organic version of that?)
It's called the inner ear. We know it's exact shape, we know it's filled with fluid and we know that's how we can tell with our eyes closed if we're upside-down, sideways, etc. The iner ear is our balance mechanism and we don't need three axises when we can have a spiral canal filled with fluid do the same thing with proper sensors attached.
The other stuff, though, I can't think of an answer to, mins the "organic" part. Organic (generally) means anything containing carbon, until you get into the area of food.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
...but completely organic sensors (like gyroscopes. How are we going to make an organic version of that?) We don't have the knowledge or the means to do it
Ehm... *cough*
"They'd be better off if they'd used OpenOffice/Linux/BSD" - and I don't think that comment is inappropriate at all. With the defined file format of ODF scanning for problems is easier, and you can choose to zap any macros because they're a separate file in the ODF zip file..
And I would personally not want to load up the Shuttle comms circuits with the volume of patches required to keep Windows safe - stupid..
Insert
Real-time X-ray flux data is available here. A good site (for BOFHs or just curious laypeople) on this subject is SpaceWeather.
recall what happened when you put the dartboard up on the wall at the end of the hall and shot at it
I actually did this whilst at university, only against a door instead of a wall. The door in question was the front door, as this was the only corridor long enough to act as a range.
Although in the UK we only had air/CO2 powered pellet guns (albeit with 150m/s+ muzzle velocity, proper target pistols not BB guns), the stupidity of the situation did eventually dawn on us when the pizza guy rang the doorbell.
Andrew Oakley - www.aoakley.com
So it wasn't my decoder that messed up...
I lived in the north of Sweden (Luleå) for a year and one night there was going to be some major northern lights. The sky was clouded BUT the clouds looked as if they were backlit with a powerfull greenish-pinkish light! The night was quite bright and this was during the winter when even the days are dark and at best gloomy. So don't hesitate to take a look.. :)
Cheers!..
$HOME is where the
-- silver_p
Approaching Solar Storm Forces! ISS to Take Cover!
Growing numbers of Solar Storm Troopers stationed
on Moon Base Alpha are said to be behind the recent
NASA announcement that the ISS shall relocate to the
dark side of the moon until further notice. The Solar
Empire has issued a statement to the effect that Moon
Base Alpha inhabitants are experiencing an increase
in crime thus necessitating the extra troops and denying
any suggestion of a planned station to station invasion.
The UN has called on the Solar Empire to withdraw
Storm Troopers from the region as quickly as possible
to avoid an incident.
The gibberish is a zip file, with a lame bmp in it saying "LOL YOU WASTE YOUR LIFE"
huhu
Sure, it sounds crazy, but professional remote viewers have been predicting this for some time. Conveniently, they sell a DVDs on how to save your own ass. I'll save you $400 and say that your best advice is to get WAY underground when you hear of a space shuttle being hit by some sort of small projectile in space (like a pebble). This is the nearest preceeding event to the big solar flare that will nuke us. /crazy rant.
They should have traveled at night.
Slashdot comments should be editable, like Wiki pages! Instead of posting irritating comments, Grammar Nazi(TM)'s could just edit the offending posts directly.
ttuttle is a rankmaniac
Wasn't this what happened to the guys in the Fantastic Four movie?
According to a recent article in Scientific American, protection from radiation in space is a depressingly hard problem. Basically, the only protection known to work is to put a great many atomic nuclei in the way of the radiation. The irony is that a thin shield, such as a space station wall, may be worse than no shield at all: It stops low-energy particles, but when hit by the really nasty high-energy particles (that are out there in great numbers) secondary radiation is produced, that is in many cases more harmful than the original particles.
Leave the lead shield at home: light elements such as hydrogen work the best for shielding, both because you get more atomic nuclei per mass unit, but also because less secondary radiation is produced. Therefore, water is a good choice for a shield. You need about one meter.
Now, surrounding the ISS with a one-meter deep water shield is unfeasible. However, if you want to protect just one, or two, little things from radiation that is coming from a specific direction, you can. You carry one meter of water shielding with you at all times. Just use you body as a shield!
You will find that astronauts fall into one of two categories: Those who choose to shield their heads and those who choose to shield something else. They are easily told apart during a solar storm by their bodies pointing in opposite directions.
So that's what happened to the White Dolphins from Yangtze River...
I've always wondered about sci-fi with grunt deployments - why the fuck risk the lives of countless of your own citizens when you can just nuke the other planet? Even better, send a few meteors their way. If you're really good, you can make it hard to trace, even.
How does this (and other) troubles affect their schedule? I recall this story about how the shuttle can't be in operation during a year change. When are they scheduled to land? How close will it be?
It's just sad how the irresponsible portrayal of the Sun God in Mel Gibson's irresponsible and exploitative movie has endangered these astronauts, the planet's finest.
A few years ago we had that X28 flare!
-- these are only opinions and they might not be mine.
But would you be able to see her?