Satellites: forging metal and finding cholera
The Naked Scientists Podcast
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Are These Solar Flares Effectively the Solar Wind on Steroids?
The solar flares happen when you have this twisting of the magnetic field that causes the ejection, sometimes of matter. And they actually ionize this upper part of our atmosphere called the ionosphere. Satellites are going to be interacting with particles on a daily basis, but not very many. But when you have these huge solar storms, it makes that ionosphere thicker,. which causes drag of your satellites and can actually cause them to deteriorate in orbit and crash back down to Earth.
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