ISRO Captures Solar Storm

Context

A powerful solar storm impacted Earth in early May 2024, triggered by the highly active region AR13664. This region unleashed a series of X-class flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) directed at Earth. The resulting geomagnetic storm was the most intense since 2003, causing disruptions to communication and GPS systems. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has mobilised all its observation platforms and systems to record the signatures of this event.

Solar Storm

• A solar storm contains energies solar and the charged particles from the Sun.
• The solar magnetic-field is always changing though sometimes it releases a cosmic amount of energy as solar flares or coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
• Under such conditions the level of the magnetic field of Earth can run out of control leading to the gear up of geomagnetic storms which, in turn, can disrupt a large number of navigation and communication systems.
• The sun storms are disruptions within the sun which are very aggressive. They are represented by bursts of energy.
• Recurring solar events do that by ejecting into the space charged particles.
• As these elemental events reach the Earth, they might interact with its magnetism.
• Through this interaction, the Sun can unleash disruptive space weather events that challenge power grids by affecting satellites.

Geomagnetic Storm

• Geomagnetic storm is a disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field that is a result of the eruption of electromagnetic fields from the Sun.
• The storm brings solar wind plasma charged particles which in turn interact with the vigorous magnetic field of the Earth, causing inconvenience to communication and navigation systems.
• The storm is capable of showing aurorae at the lower latitudes and it disturbs both the communication through satellites and the operation of power grids.

ISRO’s Response

ISRO’s satellites and other observatories have been mothballed to observe the signatures of this occurrence. Furthermore, Aditya-L1 and Chandrayaan-2 have conducted such probing to enable making the observations and to then analyse the signatures. STS-1 put in place a solar study of the Sun’s corona just as Chandrayaan-2 is to conduct a lunar study of the Moon’s surface and subsurface. The data collected by these arguments rivalled to give a great knowledge on how the solar storm distorts Earth’s magnetic field.

• Observations by Aditya-L1: SDO, also known as Aditya-L1, has been one of the first L1 Lagrange points of the Sun-Earth system, where a large solar storm is observed. The spacecraft has been a witness of the solar wind, magnetic field and energetic particle observations. The study has unveiled a substantial increase in solar wind speed, temperature and density that were recorded. Moreover, exceptionally high variations within magnetic field strength are observed, with values varying from place to place within the same species. The excess of highly energetic particles has been observed to significantly rise with a comparable increase in particle density.
• Observations by Chandrayaan-2: The solar storm from the lunar pole orbit was studied by the Chandrayaan-2. The spacecraft has registered the extending of the solar x-ray flux at this time, which is up to twofold compared to the usual level during the sun storm. The data gathered has also displayed a major growth in the high-energy particle surroundings and it is the absolute flux of the particle that has increased. The probes carried out the observations of particles’ density and temperature in the exosphere, which showed the visualisation of the solar storm effects on the moon, and it increased a lot.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the recent solar storm has been a significant event that has impacted Earth’s magnetic field and communication systems. ISRO has mobilised all its observation platforms and systems to record the signatures of this event. The observations made by Aditya-L1 and Chandrayaan-2 have provided valuable insights into the solar storm and its effects on Earth’s magnetic field. The data collected by these spacecraft will be useful for future research and will help us better understand the effects of solar storms on Earth’s magnetic field and communication systems.

Source: The Hindu

UPSC Prelims Practice Question 

Q.Discuss the significance of ISRO’s recent capture of solar storm signatures. How does this advancement contribute to our understanding of space weather and its potential impacts on Earth’s technological infrastructure? Elaborate on the implications for space research and satellite operations.

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