AI as NASA’s Shield: Anticipating the Most Furious and Dangerous Solar Storms
The Sun is currently going through the most intense phase of its eleven-year cycle, and the effects are already being felt on Earth. But the most worrying part is yet to come: solar storms capable of directly hitting our technological infrastructure. To anticipate this,
## A silent threat in Earth’s orbit
Although the atmosphere and magnetosphere protect us from solar radiation, a strong impact could render telecommunication networks, GPS navigation, or weather systems useless. Hence the need for increasingly precise predictions.
## How AI deciphers the language of the Sun
has been collaborating for years with KX Systems, a company known for its kdb+ software, originally designed to track real-time fluctuations in financial markets. The logic was simple: if that technology can detect invisible patterns in chaotic market data, it can also be applied to solar activity.
By training machine learning models with data from the ionosphere, solar wind, and Earth’s magnetic field, This margin would allow for protecting sensitive satellites, activating emergency protocols, or safeguarding astronauts in orbit.
## The memory of the Carrington event
The urgency is not unfounded. In 1859, the so-called Carrington event melted telegraph wires and paralyzed communications for hours. Today, a similar event could collapse entire electrical systems and leave millions of people disconnected.
Although the main goal is scientific, KX Systems has confirmed that some of the advancements will be transferred to the commercial sector. After all, algorithms that predict satellite signal loss can also be applied to industrial maintenance or predicting failures in critical infrastructures.
The open question is whether, in a world increasingly dependent on satellites and telecommunications, we will be able to anticipate the Sun’s fury enough. For the first time, artificial intelligence offers a real possibility of gaining time against one of the most unpredictable phenomena in the universe.
