Unexpectedly, in the early morning of the first day of 2024, the first thing that human beings ushered in was not the morning light, but the highest level of solar flare, which reached the X5.0 level.
A magnitude X5.0 solar flare erupted, with a coronal mass ejection arriving on Thursday
What is the concept of X5.0 class? Scientists usually divide the intensity of solar flare eruptions into five levels: A, B, C, M, and X, each of which can be divided into 10 levels.
The energy contained in a solar flare increases by a factor of 10 with each level, and the energy contained in an X5.0 solar flare has reached a very terrifying level.
A single M-class solar flare alone emits energy equivalent to the energy of 100,000 to a million powerful volcanic eruptions, and the X-class is 10 times more powerful than the M-class.
Therefore, even if the Earth is 150 million kilometers away from the Sun, it will be difficult to get rid of the effects, and the enormous energy from solar flares will hit the Earth three times.
First of all, it is the electromagnetic waves emitted by solar flares that travel at the speed of light and can arrive in eight and a half minutes, which will affect high-frequency wireless communication and navigation and positioning.
Second, high-energy protons emitted by solar flares will arrive on Earth in tens of minutes, affecting spacecraft.
Finally, the coronal mass ejection that will have the greatest impact on the Earth will arrive on Earth three days later, causing phenomena such as geomagnetic and ionospheric storms, which pose a threat to low-orbit satellites and power grids.
In other words, the biggest threat of an X5.0 solar flare in early 2024 has not yet reached Earth, and according to time calculations, it will arrive after the early morning of January 4.
Solar flares have destroyed 40 of Musk's Starlink satellites, is it a threat to astronauts?
In the face of such a powerful solar flare, the impact on the ground is still huge, so isn't the threat to astronauts, space stations, and satellites in space even greater?
As early as February 3, 2022, 40 of the 49 Starlink satellites launched by Musk's SPaceX company could not enter the predetermined orbit due to geomagnetic storm interference caused by solar flares, and re-entered the atmosphere and burned up.
According to the analysis of meteorological experts, this kind of energy is injected into the polar regions by high-energy particles accelerated by geomagnetic activities, which transmit energy to the upper atmosphere, causing the atmosphere to heat up and diffuse to lower latitudes.
The thermal expansion of the lower atmosphere causes the density of the atmosphere in the orbit of the satellite to increase, which increases the resistance of the satellite and makes the orbit remote.
It can be seen that the geomagnetic storm caused by the solar flare is not a small threat to spacecraft, so does the X5.0 solar flare pose a threat to the continental space station and astronauts?
The answer is "there is an impact, but not a big threat", for the simple reason that the altitude chosen for the space station perfectly avoids the range of geomagnetic storms.
After observing the solar flare activity over the years, human scientists found that the spacecraft that can be affected by geomagnetic storms are generally in orbit below 300 kilometers, so they will choose to operate in orbit of about 400 kilometers when building a space station, in order to prevent geomagnetic storms from threatening the space station and astronauts.
As for some minor effects, it is natural that astronauts will not be able to carry out out-of-cabin activities during this time, after all, solar flares erupt, and the radiation value in space will be abnormal, and it is not safe to go out of the capsule.
Will geomagnetic storms affect the launch of Tianzhou-7? Astronauts' energy meals are very important
I believe you have also heard that the mainland will launch the Tianzhou-7 cargo spacecraft at the beginning of the year to replenish supplies for the Shenzhou-17 crew and the Shenzhou-18 crew that is about to go on a "business trip".
So, will this X5 solar flare affect the launch process of Tianzhou-7?
The answer is obvious, after all, spacecraft also rely on wireless communication technology to charge and carry out some commands, and for now, humans cannot completely ignore the effects of geomagnetic storms.
In addition, experts predict that the solar flare observed in the early hours of January 1 is not the only one, and that strong flares may erupt in the coming period.
If Tianzhou-7 is scheduled to launch Tianzhou-7 before mid-January, then it will have to be postponed, and if the planned time is not January, everything will be launched as planned.
If the launch of Tianzhou-7 is postponed, will there still be enough supplies on the space station?
The last time Tianzhou-6 delivered supplies was launched on May 10, 2023, and it has been almost 8 months now.
Even if you plan for the worst, you don't have to worry too much about the delay of Tianzhou-7 beyond the estimated time, because the space station also has a special emergency food - astronaut energy meal.
The astronaut energy meal is a compressed high-energy food that has the effect of quickly replenishing physical energy and carrying hunger, only 128 grams, can maintain the energy required by the human body for 6 to 8 hours.
Astronauts only need to eat about 400 grams per person per day, which can meet the needs of ordinary food for a day, which is a very good emergency food and one of the standing supplies in the space station.
Of course, it is better not to have the above situation, astronauts are the heroes of our country, and everyone must return safely.
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