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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?
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.
"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?
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!
A Coronal Mass Ejection resulting from an X3 Solar Flare earlier today
Too much Mexican beer after a day on the beach, perhaps.
CNN, the shuttle should be able to escape it! http://shogun.shafted.com.au/temp/cnnsucks.jpg
So why don't they make satellites out of the stuff astronauts are made of?
Image of the referenced tsunami
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.
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.
I thought it said "Approaching Solar Storm Forces IIS to Take Cover"
Oh well.
>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.
Before you die, you see DoubleRing...
Real-time X-ray flux data is available here. A good site (for BOFHs or just curious laypeople) on this subject is SpaceWeather.
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
Had a friend at university who used to throw knives and had a target drawn on his door. He was chucking a knife at it when his room mate walked in a fraction of a second after he'd thrown it. So we're all sitting there in stunned silence as this door swings shut behind him with a knife positioned right behind his head and he looks at us all and says "What's the matter with you lot?"
The difference between funny and death is very fine sometimes.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
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
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...
Just an update on the space shuttle virus situation. It seems NASA have cleaned their computers of the viruses that prevented the astronauts from receiving email attachments. At the end of this mornings wake up call, the Capcom gave this comment: "And most importantly: You are go for Outlook!". So this shows that if you just put all the best scientists in your country on the task, it is actually possible to use Outlook safely.
A few years ago we had that X28 flare!
-- these are only opinions and they might not be mine.