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Perth: (The Conversation) Last week, three tiny Australian satellites from Curtin University's <keyword id="23932163" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Binar-Space-Program" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Binar Space Program" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Binar Space Program">Binar Space Program</keyword> burned up in Earth's atmosphere. That was always going to happen. In fact, Binar means "fireball" in the Noongar language of the First Nations people of Perth. When a satellite is in low Earth orbit (2,000km or less), it experiences orbital decay as it drags closer and closer to the surface, eventually burning up. <br /><br />But these cube satellites (<keyword id="21533654" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="CubeSats" source="keywords">CubeSats</keyword>), known as Binar-2, 3 and 4, entered the atmosphere much sooner than originally planned. They only lasted for two months - a third of what was expected. This significantly reduced valuable time for science and testing new systems. <br /><br />The reason for their untimely demise? Our Sun has kicked into high gear, and the Binar satellites are far from the only casualty. Recent high <keyword id="20792842" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Solar-activity" source="keywords">solar activity</keyword> has been causing an unexpected headache for satellite operators in the last few years, and it's only increasing. <br /><br /><h2>Why is the Sun so active? <br /></h2><br />Solar activity includes phenomena such as sunspots, solar flares and solar wind - the stream of charged particles that flows toward Earth. <br /><br />This activity is a product of the Sun's ever-changing magnetic field, and approximately every 11 years, it completely flips. At the midpoint of this cycle, solar activity is at its highest. <br /><br />While this cycle is known, specific solar activity is challenging to predict - the dynamics are complex and solar forecasting is in its infancy. <br /><br />In the last few months, indicators of solar activity were more than one and a half times higher than predictions for this point in the current cycle, labelled <keyword id="22712826" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="solar-cycle-25" source="keywords">solar cycle 25</keyword>. <br /><br /><h2>The impact of <keyword id="20087207" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="space-weather" source="keywords">space weather</keyword> <br /></h2><br />Space weather refers to the environmental effects that originate from outside our atmosphere (mostly the Sun). It affects us on Earth in a variety of noticeable and unnoticeable ways. <br /><br />The most obvious is the presence of auroras. In the past few months, auroras have been visible far more intensely and closer to the equator than in the last two decades. This is a direct result of the increased solar activity. <br /><br />Space weather, and solar activity in particular, also creates additional challenges for satellites and satellite operators. <br /><br />Higher solar activity means more solar flares and stronger solar wind - resulting in a higher flux of charged particles that can damage or disrupt electrical components on satellites. <br /><br />It also means an increase in ionising radiation, resulting in a higher dose for astronauts and pilots, and potential disruptions to long-distance radio communications. <br /><br />But for satellites in low Earth orbit, the most consistent effect of solar activity is that the extra energy gets absorbed into the outer atmosphere, causing it to balloon outward. <br /><br />As a result, all satellites less than 1,000km from Earth experience a significant increase in <keyword id="23473319" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="atmospheric-drag" source="keywords">atmospheric drag</keyword>. This is a force that disrupts their orbit and causes them to fall towards the planet's surface. <br /><br />Notable satellites in this region include the International Space Station and the Starlink constellation. These satellites have thrusters to counteract this effect, but these corrections can be expensive. <br /><br />Low Earth orbit also contains many university satellites, such as the Binar CubeSats. Cube satellites are rarely equipped with tools that can adjust their altitude, so they're entirely at the mercy of space weather. <br /><br /><h2>What happened to Binar? <br /></h2><br />The Binar Space Program is a satellite research program operating out of Curtin University. It aims to advance our understanding of the Solar System and lower the barrier for operating in space. <br /><br />The program began operations with its first satellite, Binar-1, in September 2021. This was less than a year into solar cycle 25 when solar activity was relatively low. <br /><br />In these conditions, the ten-centimetre cube satellite started at an altitude of 420km and survived a full 364 days in orbit. <br /><br />The program's follow-up mission - Binar-2, 3, and 4 - were three equally sized CubeSats. However, they were expected to last approximately six months owing to the extra surface area from new deployable solar arrays and a forecast increase in solar activity. <br /><br />Instead, they only made it to two months before burning up. While cube satellite missions are relatively cheap, the premature ending of a mission will always be costly. This is even more true for commercial satellites, highlighting the need for more accurate space weather forecasting. <br /><br />The good news is the Sun will calm down again. Despite the current unexpectedly high solar activity, it will likely slow down by 2026, and is expected to return to a solar minimum in 2030. <br /><br />While this was not an explicit goal of the mission, the Binar Space Program has now poignantly demonstrated the dramatic effects of solar activity on space operations. <br /><br />While the untimely loss of Binar-2, 3 and 4 was unfortunate, work has already begun on future missions. They are expected to launch into far more forgiving space weather. (The Conversation).

Right now, the Sun is far more active than predicted - and small satellites are paying the price

Smelliest planets in and around our solar system

IPOs of <keyword id="22105289" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aasan-Loans" source="keywords">Aasan Loans</keyword> (<keyword id="22105288" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Akme-Fintrade" source="keywords">Akme Fintrade</keyword> India) and <keyword id="22105291" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="DEE-Piping-Systems" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="DEE Piping Systems" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="DEE Piping Systems">DEE Piping Systems</keyword> (DEE Development Engineers Limited) are set to hit the D-street for subscription today, and will close on Friday, 21st June.<br /><br />With a price band of Rs 114-Rs 120, Aasan Loans, which offers loans to rural and semi-urban populations, aims to raise 132 crores via a fresh issue of 1.1 crore shares. With its niche in vehicle and business financing, experts are advising staying away from the <keyword id="19898327" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="IPO" source="keywords">IPO</keyword>, given how competitive the Indian NBFC space is. The company also harbours significant NPAs, and has had some compliance issues in the past as well.<br /><br />The other mainboard IPO, <keyword id="22105286" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="DEE-Piping" source="keywords">DEE Piping</keyword> Systems, intends to raise Rs 418 crore via combination of fresh issue and offer for sale (OFS). While Rs 325 crores will be raised via fresh issue, Rs 93.01 crores will be raised via OFS. With its price band set between Rs 193-Rs 203, DEE specialises in providing piping solutions to oil, gas, chemicals and power industries.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="SME IPO dashboard" comment="subhead" text="SME IPO dashboard"><span data-til="noop">SME IPO dashboard</span></cmsannotation><br />While these are mainboard IPOs, 3 small and medium enterprises (SME), namely <keyword id="22105292" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Falcon-Technoprojects-India" source="Orion">Falcon Technoprojects India</keyword>, <keyword id="22071172" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Durlax-Top-Surface" source="Orion">Durlax Top Surface</keyword> and <keyword id="22105290" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gem-Enviro" source="keywords">GEM Enviro</keyword> are also opening for subscription today. The company, which aims to raise Rs 13.69 crore, offers mechanical and plumbing services, which includes installing air conditioners, water supply and lighting systems. Its share price has been set at Rs 92.<br /><br />The other company on the SME dashboard is Durlax Top Surface, which has 2 brands, namely LUXOR and ASPIRON. The company manufactures solid surface materials, which include UV acrylic solid sheets. The company wants to raise Rs 40.80 crore, out of which Rs 28.56 crore will be raised via fresh issue, and the remaining will be accumulated via offer for sale. The stock’s price band is set between Rs 65-68. <br /><br />Gem Enviro, which specialises in plastic waste management and recycling, aims to raise Rs 44.93 crore via this IPO. Stock analyst Dilip Dawda recommends investing in this IPO for medium to long-term gains, given that the company has paid dividend over the past 2 years<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="IPOs closing today" comment="subhead" text="IPOs closing today"><span data-til="noop">IPOs closing today</span></cmsannotation><br />IPOs of <keyword id="22105287" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="GPES-Solar" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="GPES Solar" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="GPES Solar">GPES Solar</keyword>, which opened on 14th June, and United Cotfab, which opened on 13th June, are closing today. GPES Solar, which is in the business of solar inverters and panels, aims to raise Rs 31 crore. Its IPO was oversubscribed around 408.3 times. Retail investors oversubscribed to the share by around 519.57 times. However, Dawda recommends subscription to this IPO only if you are a market veteran and have surplus, long-term funds to park. <br /><br />The IPO of United Cotfab, which manufactures open-end cotton yarn, is also closing today. It was oversubscribed by 48.27 times in the retail investor category. While the company intends to raise Rs 36.29 crore entirely via fresh issue, experts have raised concerns about the company’s profitability and sustainability. <br /><br />

IPO Overview : DEE Piping, Akme Fintrade, GPES Solar

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Humans have been studying <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-2024-total-solar-eclipse-cool-best-special-nasa-2024-1">total solar eclipses</a> for millennia to better understand the cosmos.</li><li>Total eclipses have helped prove Einstein's theory of relativity and led to the discovery of helium.</li></ul><p>On April 8, millions of people across the US will all do the same thing: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reasons-to-see-total-eclipse-convince-boss-miss-work-2024-4">look up</a>.</p><p>In the middle of the afternoon, day will shift to night, as a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-eclipse-map-nasa-where-when-see-path-of-totality-2024-3">total solar eclipse</a> touches 15 states.</p><p>We know now what causes a total <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/devil-comet-visible-during-total-solar-eclipse-how-see-2024-4">solar eclipse</a>. But our ancient ancestors from millennia ago weren't so certain, and that was bad news for some scientists.</p><p>In the 21st century BCE, China's emporer <a target="_blank" href="https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/eclipse-history">reportedly</a> had two astronomers beheaded for not <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/total-eclipse-solar-power-generation-states-outside-path-totality-2024-3">predicting a total eclipse</a>.</p><p>Over the centuries, total eclipses became less dire and more of an opportunity to test scientific theories and forge <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/helio-year-sun-solar-system-probe-eclipse-events-2024-1">new discoveries</a>.</p><p>Here are seven times a total solar eclipse has helped advance human science.</p><h2>1. Measuring Earth's rotation</h2><div type="image" title="Aerial view of planet Earth covered in clouds." height="1411" width="2124" msid="109088911" hostid="261" sizebytes="77030"></div><p>Some of the earliest suspected records of eclipses <a target="_blank" href="https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/history/">date back</a> thousands of years.</p><p>Some experts have suggested<strong> </strong>petroglyphs or rock carvings found on a monument in Ireland reference an eclipse that took place on November 30 in the year 3,340 BCE. Others have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/18/this-5000-year-old-stone-carving-may-be-the-worlds-first-drawing-of-an-eclipse/">expressed</a> skepticism.</p><p>Human-made markings on tortoise shells from China and a Babylonian tablet from over 3,000 years ago may also contain ancient references to eclipses.</p><p>Though these records are open to interpretation, scholars have <a target="_blank" href="https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/rotation.html">studied</a> historical descriptions of eclipses for centuries. It's how 18th-century astronomer Edmond Halley first realized the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-if-earth-stopped-spinning">Earth's rotation</a> has slowed over millennia.</p><h2>2. Discovering what causes eclipses</h2><div type="image" title="Engraving of  Pericles stands next to Anaxagoras, who is sitting on steps next to columns in Ancient Greece" height="1500" width="2263" msid="109088912" hostid="261" sizebytes="1159624"></div><p>Two modern scholars <a target="_blank" href="https://daily.jstor.org/anaxagoras-and-the-eclipse-the-first-to-get-it-right/">give</a> Greek philosopher Anaxagoras of Clazomenae credit for figuring out the moon's role in eclipses, calling him "perhaps the first empirical astronomer."</p><p>He likely developed his theories after witnessing an annular, or "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/october-solar-eclipse-annular-ring-of-fire-where-how-watch-2023-10">ring of fire</a>," eclipse on February 17, 478 BCE. While he got some of the science right, his overall understanding of the solar system was a product of its time.</p><p>Anaxagoras, for example, thought that air pressure kept the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-living-on-flat-earth-would-look-like-2017-11">flat Earth</a> aloft at the center of the rotating sun, moon, and stars. Despite that error, he worked out the basic mechanics behind eclipses.</p><p>Anaxagoras correctly believed the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-watch-da-vinci-glow-ghostly-shine-moon-phenomenon-2023-5">moon reflected</a> the sun's light. He was also accurate in his theories that when the moon moved in front of the sun, it caused a solar eclipse. Similarly, when the Earth was in between the sun and moon, there would be a lunar eclipse.</p><p>He also used the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-lunar-eclipses-work-earth-moon-red-shadow-2018-7">moon's shadow</a><strong> </strong>during an eclipse<strong> </strong>to estimate its size, but his calculations gave him a much smaller answer than reality.</p><h2>3. Estimating the moon's distance from Earth</h2><div type="image" title="A person is seated looking through a telescope with astrological instruments nearby in Ancient Greece" height="1500" width="2172" msid="109088915" hostid="261" sizebytes="589214"></div><p>On March 14, 189 BCE, a total solar eclipse swept over what is now northern Turkey. Greek astronomer Hipparchus would have just been a child at the time, but it's possible he saw the event.</p><p>Years later, Hipparchus may have used secondhand accounts of that same eclipse to make one of the era's most mathematically accurate estimates of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mind-boggling-nasa-photo-shows-moon-distance-from-earth-2022-10">moon's distance from Earth</a>.</p><p>Though Hipparchus' direct writings are lost, a 4th-century scholar <a target="_blank" href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0021828618817175">detailed</a> how he used the information.</p><p>The astronomer estimated the distance between where the total eclipse was in modern day Turkey and Alexandria, Egypt — where a fifth of the sun showed — to make his calculation.</p><p>Based on his math, Hipparchus offered a few ranges, including a mean distance<strong> </strong>of about 281,387 miles.</p><p>He wasn't terribly far off. The moon is about 238,855 miles away.</p><h2>4. Predicting the path of an eclipse</h2><div type="image" title="A map of England showing the path of an 18th century eclipse" height="2445" width="2000" msid="109088917" hostid="261" sizebytes="708824"></div><p>In the 11th or 12th century, Mayan astronomers made a remarkable prediction for their time: They calculated that a total solar eclipse would occur in 1991, and their prediction was accurate to within a day.</p><p>It would be centuries until humans made a more accurate prediction. In the 18th century,<strong><em> </em></strong><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/edmond-halley-solar-lunar-eclipse-manuscripts-sell-auction-2023-12">Edmond Halley</a>, better known for discovering a comet with his name, made a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2015/may/03/halleys-eclipse-newtonian-selling-science-history">map</a> predicting the path of the May 3, 1715 solar eclipse with extreme accuracy.</p><p>Others made maps before him, but Halley based his prediction on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/isaac-newton-burnt-notes-pyramids-apocalypse-theology-sold-auction-2020-12">Isaac Newton</a>'s theory of universal gravitation, which helped him pinpoint the eclipse's timing to within four minutes.</p><h2>5. The discovery of helium</h2><div type="image" title="A drawing of several people seated and standing around astronomical equipment in the late 19th century in India" height="1500" width="2175" msid="109088919" hostid="261" sizebytes="650872"></div><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rare-element-arctic-lava-suggest-earth-core-may-leaking-2023-10">Helium</a> is very abundant in the universe but rare on Earth. It took an eclipse for an astronomer to discover it.</p><p>French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen had <a target="_blank" href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-scientists-discovered-helium-first-alien-element-1868-180970057/">traveled</a> to Guntur, India just for the August 18, 1868 eclipse. He was using a spectroscope, a prism-like device for separating sunlight into a spectrum.</p><p>Janssen saw a yellow line with a wavelength unlike any other element. Around the same time, English astronomer Norman Lockyer developed an instrument for viewing the sun even without an eclipse. He saw the same line.</p><p>Lockyer called the mysterious element helium. It took a couple of decades for scientists to see it on Earth, during experiments on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/italy-skeleton-of-a-roman-killed-steps-from-sea-fled-vesuvius-eruption-2021-12">Mount Vesuvius</a> lava and uranium.</p><h2>6. Proof of Einstein's theory of relativity</h2><div type="image" title="A building holds a large piece of astronomical equipment with a long tube and rectangular box" height="1500" width="2244" msid="109088922" hostid="261" sizebytes="221628"></div><p>Astronomer James Craig Watson was certain he'd <a target="_blank" href="https://www.american-eclipse.com/">found</a> proof of a new planet during the 1878 eclipse. Supposedly located between the Sun and Mercury, Vulcan was only visible when the moon blocked the giant star.</p><p>Several more eclipses passed without anyone finding evidence of Vulcan. In 1915, Albert Einstein <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/einstein-showed-newton-was-wrong-about-gravity-now-scientists-are-ncna1038671">explained</a> Mercury's unusual orbit with his general <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/albert-einstein-thought-experiments-2023-10">theory of relativity</a>. It fit the data better than a mysterious, difficult-to-spot extra planet.</p><p>Despite this evidence, Einstein's theory didn't receive scientific proof until the May 29, 1919 eclipse. The physicist had said the sun's gravity would bend light from nearby stars.</p><p>In 1919, expeditions traveled to Principe, an island off the coast of Africa, and Brazil. While the moon blocked the sun, the astronomers took photographs.</p><p>The stars seemed to have shifted locations compared to the reference photos. The apparent new locations showed the sun was bending the light within the measurements that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russell-einstein-manifesto-nuclear-weapons-bombs-danger-2024-2">Einstein predicted</a>.</p><h2>7. Studying eclipses from space</h2><div type="image" title="A large antenna dish beneath a solar eclipse" height="1383" width="2055" msid="109088924" hostid="261" sizebytes="79024"></div><p>Gemini 12 astronauts Jim Lovell and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/buzz-aldrin-thoughts-lunar-module-moon-liftoff-2017-7">Buzz Aldrin</a> were the first humans to see a total eclipse from space. The November 12, 1966 eclipse moved from Peru to Brazil, and the astronauts hovered near the path of totality.</p><p>It was a coincidence that they were close enough to see it, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-history-of-total-solar-eclipses-seen-by-astronauts-from-outer-space-180983909/">Smithsonian Magazine</a>. Aldrin's photos were unfocused and a bit disappointing.</p><p>Four years later, TV networks <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8i9qNslaJA">broadcast</a> the "eclipse of the century," full of images of the event. NASA also launched over two dozen rockets to study <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-sunscreen-is-not-enough-to-protect-you-from-sun-2023-9">UV radiation</a> and solar X-rays during the phenomenon.</p><p>The agency still uses rockets to gather data during eclipses and will launch three on April 8.</p>

7 times a total solar eclipse revolutionized science 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA says <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sun-more-active-solar-storms-auroras-power-outages-grounded-flights-2023-2">the sun is in the highly active "maximum phase"</a> of its 11-year solar cycle.</li><li>That means there will probably be big solar storms bringing beautiful aurora in the next year or so.</li></ul><p>Thanks to the sun, we're in the middle of the best time to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saw-northern-lights-surprising-photos-misleading-2024-5">see the northern lights</a> — and maybe the worst time to be a satellite.</p><p>NASA announced Tuesday that the sun is in the "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-maximum-could-sooner-than-expected-2023-6">maximum phase</a>" of its 11-year solar cycle, which basically means it's hyperactive.</p><p>Our once-quiet star has been roiling with plasma arcs and sunspots and occasionally erupting, shooting <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/second-giant-coronal-hole-sun-solar-winds-space-weather-aurora-2023-3">energized particles out into space</a> — sometimes in Earth's direction.</p><p>When those eruptions wash over our planet, they can trigger <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-aurora-northern-lights-rare-appearance-south-solar-storm-2023-3">beautiful aurora unusually far from the poles,</a> in more populated regions, like<strong> </strong>Arizona or California.</p><div type="image" title="Shreveport" height="2268" width="4032" msid="114291827" hostid="261" sizebytes="508996"></div><p>But <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sun-polar-vortex-video-from-solar-plasma-break-2023-2">solar eruptions</a> can also endanger satellites, astronauts, and even power grids here on Earth.</p><p>NASA expects a lot of those explosions in the next six months to a year along with the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-storm-earth-northern-southern-lights-auroras-how-to-see-2023-4">geomagnetic storms</a> they cause in Earth's upper atmosphere. That's how much longer the sun will likely be at maximum, but there's still potential for big eruptions in the ensuing years as the sun winds down.</p><p>"We anticipate additional solar and geomagnetic storms leading to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/northern-lights-sky-friday-us-solar-winds-giant-hole-sun-2023-3">opportunities to spot aurora</a> over the next several months, as well as potential technology impacts," Kelly Korreck, a program scientist in NASA's Heliophysics Division, said during the announcement on Tuesday.</p><h2 id="c28a25b0-3a8e-46c8-90f0-c090be8a9dfa">The problem with the aurora</h2><p>Solar eruptions, like solar flares or coronal mass ejections,<strong> </strong>don't directly harm anyone on Earth, but they disrupt a layer of the upper atmosphere called <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-launch-hole-ionosphere-earth-atmosphere-physicist-2023-7">the ionosphere</a>.</p><p>Some technologies, such as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/no-gps-on-moon-nasa-esa-artemis-plans-to-fix-2023-1">GPS</a> and high-frequency radios used for navigation, rely on the ionosphere and<strong> </strong>experience blackouts during some solar storms.</p><p>That can <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/flying-becoming-more-miserable-climate-crisis-delays-costs-turbulence-2024-8">delay flights</a>, since planes use both satellite and radio communications. Indeed, a 2023 <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=8e26d9ff6e66f84cefbfeefdbced737cfc1cea9d00c54bc32fab88e9e3d96541&amp;postID=670eb5b8434c477c232fed0c&amp;postSlug=nasa-declares-sun-maximum-what-solar-storms-mean-technology-auroras-2024-10&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41598-023-30424-2">study</a> found that flights were 21% more likely to be delayed by at least 30 minutes during solar storms.</p><p>Solar storms can also <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-cycle-active-grounded-flights-downed-satellites-2024-8">push satellites out of orbit</a>.</p><p>In very severe cases, solar storms can affect power grids. In 1989, a geomagnetic storm wiped out Quebec's electricity and caused other power-system issues in the US, UK, and Sweden.</p><p>Nothing that major has happened in a while. But this solar maximum has been one for the books. In May, an <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-northern-lights-dazzle-night-sky-across-the-us-europe-2024-5"><u>extreme geomagnetic storm </u></a>brought the northern lights as far south as Arkansas.</p><div type="image" title="northern lights night sky with pink and purple glow above silhouette of treetops" height="1500" width="2000" msid="114291826" hostid="261" sizebytes="115744"></div><p>It was "the strongest solar storm to reach Earth in two decades and possibly one of the strongest displays of auroras on record in the past 500 years," said Elsayed Talaat, the director of the Office of Space Weather Observations at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.</p><p>Unlike two decades ago, NOAA can better <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronal-hole-on-sun-blasts-solar-wind-toward-earth-2023-3">forecast geomagnetic storms</a> and industries can prepare for them before they strike. Still, the May solar storm disrupted high-precision GPS that some US farmers rely on, causing about $500 million in losses, according to Bill Murtagh, a program coordinator at NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center.</p><p>"The bigger the storm, the more visible the aurora, the further south it's visible. At the same time, we can't be hoping for these big displays because with them comes the threat to our critical infrastructure," Murtagh said during Tuesday's announcement. "We always have to be careful with what we wish for. "</p><h2 id="7ab5ba6b-e0c1-46b9-a08a-6f2bc8739d3b">Why the sun is at maximum</h2><p>The sun has an 11-year cycle, where it builds from a quiet, placid minimum to a roaring maximum, then dies back down.</p><p>The current <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/next-solar-maximum-2025-what-expect-cycle-2023-4">solar maximum</a> likely began in early 2023, as the sun began to display more and more sunspots, which are low-temperature regions on the sun's surface created by concentrated magnetic field lines.</p><div type="image" title="side by side images of the sun bright yellow smooth sphere. the left image labeled solar minimum is completely smooth. the right image labeled solar maximum has dark spots speckled across the sun's center." height="1080" width="1920" msid="114291824" hostid="261" sizebytes="33546"></div><p>"There's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sunspots-15-times-size-of-earth-solar-storm-into-view-2023-11">more sunspots emerging</a>, the magnetic field has more chances to interact and increase the probability of having a significant geomagnetic storm," Lisa Upton, the co-chair of the Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, which is an international panel of experts who have been keeping tabs on the sun, said during the announcement on Tuesday.</p><p>NASA scientists couldn't confirm that the sun had reached maximum until they'd seen the number of sunspots start to plateau.</p><p>"It's by looking at the shape of that cycle, how it's progressed so far, and how we know that solar cycle progresses from our observations of the last 25 solar cycles, that we can really say that we're at the maximum phase now," Upton said.</p><p>Eventually, scientists will be able to pinpoint an exact peak of the entire solar cycle, but not until many months after the maximum phase ends.</p>

The sun is at its 11-year maximum. That means another year of eruptions that can endanger satellites, ground flights, and spark stunning auroras.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA launched Europa Clipper to see if <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oxygen-europa-life-surface-ocean-subsurface-earth-juno-mission-jupiter-2024-3">Jupiter's moon Europa</a> could host alien life.</li><li>Scientists think Europa contains a vast saltwater ocean deep beneath its surface.</li></ul><p><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-nasa-could-tell-us-aliens-are-real-2023-2">NASA is serious about searching for alien life</a>, even within our own solar system.</p><p>On Monday, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the agency launched a spacecraft toward Europa, a moon of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jupiter-images-webb-sees-rings-moons-hubble-cant-2022-8">Jupiter</a>.</p><p>Scientists believe Europa contains a vast saltwater ocean deep beneath its icy crust, with twice as much water as Earth. It's perhaps the most promising place in our solar system for active <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asks-help-retrieving-perseverance-mars-samples-alien-life-2024-4">extraterrestrial life</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Europa" height="1700" width="2300" msid="114225773" hostid="261" sizebytes="181080"></div><p>The NASA mission, called Europa Clipper, aims to figure out whether <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-lava-from-moon-volcanoes-creates-jupiters-powerful-aurora-lights-2022-2">the Jupiter moon</a> and its ocean could support life. It's the largest interplanetary spacecraft NASA has ever built. The probe is about 16 feet tall and, when its vast wings of solar arrays are deployed, 100 feet wide. It weighs three-and-a-half tons.</p><p>Clipper is undertaking the first targeted exploration of an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-underwater-rover-hunt-alien-life-on-ocean-worlds-2019-11">ocean world</a> beyond our planet.</p><p>Even if there is no life on Europa, this mission is crucial in the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-no-contact-with-aliens-2019-9">search for alien life</a>, since ocean worlds across the galaxy are prime candidates for life.</p><p>Missions like Europa Clipper are "modern cathedrals" and "generational quests," said Laurie Leshin, the director of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mars-helicopter-pilot-what-job-is-like-advice-2023-1">NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a>, which built the spacecraft.</p><div type="image" title="giant spacecraft folded up between red Airbus panels with a large round foil-covered piece on the front with technicians in blue clean suits standing nearby in a giant white clearnroom" height="1280" width="1920" msid="114225774" hostid="261" sizebytes="132976"></div><p>"We scientists have been dreaming about a mission like Europa Clipper for more than 20 years. We've been working to build it for 10 years," she added in a briefing about the mission in September. "It's going to be another 10 years, because <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-animation-planetary-scientist-huge-solar-system-2019-11">Jupiter's so far away</a>, until we have all the science in the bag."</p><p>The spacecraft must travel 1.8 billion miles to get to Jupiter, getting a boost from Mars's gravity along the way. It's scheduled to arrive in April 2030.</p><h2 id="ccd765aa-2885-424c-ab06-309d5a9fdb77">A 7-body problem and unfathomable radiation</h2><p>Life exists without sunlight at the bottom of the ocean here on Earth. All it needs is an energy source, like hydrothermal vents which release heat from deep within the planet, and organic molecules containing essential elements like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen.</p><p>Europa Clipper is carrying nine scientific instruments to look for the fingerprints of those molecules, measure the salinity and depth of the underground ocean, and take photos of Europa down to one meter of resolution, among other things.</p><div type="image" title="illustration of a spacecraft with long wings of solar panels above a white moon covered in crisis crossed brown lines with jupiter in the distant background in space" height="1121" width="1995" msid="114225771" hostid="261" sizebytes="107104"></div><p>"Clipper is not actually going to look for life itself, but it's going to characterize the habitability of Europa," Gina DiBraccio, the acting director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, said in the briefing.</p><p>The mission is designed to orbit Jupiter and fly past Europa 49 times, each time soaring over a different area to eventually cover almost the entire moon, pole to pole. The spacecraft will skim as close as 16 miles above Europa's surface.</p><p>The mission plan is a marvel of engineering. Rather than a three-body problem, falling into orbit around Jupiter is a "seven-body problem" because of the planet's large moons, Jordan Evans, the mission's project manager, said in the briefing.</p><p>During each flyby, Clipper will bathe in radiation from Jupiter that's equivalent to "a few million chest X-rays," Evans added.</p><p>It might even find out if Europa's ice really <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-jupiter-oceanic-moon-europa-radioactive-glow-2020-11">glows in the dark from that radiation</a>, as NASA research has previously indicated.</p>

NASA launches a probe to find out if there really could be alien life on Jupiter's moon Europa

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The solar eclipse on April 8 will affect solar power generation.</li><li>In the US, the path of totality will span from Texas to Maine but other states will be affected.</li></ul><p>On April 8, millions of people plan to put on a pair of eclipse glasses and watch as the moon crosses in front of the sun. While the event will affect <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-panel-industry-electricity-generation-us-eia-tariff-prices-trade-2024-2">solar power generation</a>, everyone's lights should still be on when they go back inside.</p><p>In the US, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-eclipse-map-nasa-where-when-see-path-of-totality-2024-3">path of totality</a> — where the moon will appear to fully block the sun — will stretch from Texas to Maine. However, electricity providers in other states with lots of solar energy also need to have power reserves ready, Barry Mather, an engineer with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, told Business Insider.</p><p>"This eclipse actually is going to impact solar generation across the entire North American continent, practically," he said. As the moon shades the sun, it will diminish the amount of sunlight that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-passive-income-side-hustle-selling-electricity-neighbors-solar-panels-2023-12">solar panels</a> receive.</p><p>However, because we can precisely predict where and when the eclipse will be, that means utilities can plan around them to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackouts-power-outages-more-common-climate-change-electric-grid-infrastructure-2023-3">avoid blackouts</a>.</p><p>"I fully expect that we're all prepared for this," Mather said.</p><h2>There's more solar power in the US than in 2017</h2><p>There are quite a few reasons this year's eclipse <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-2024-total-solar-eclipse-cool-best-special-nasa-2024-1">will be different</a> from others in the past.</p><p>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-a-solar-eclipse-2017-8">2017 total solar eclipse</a> in the US<strong> </strong>had a completely different path of totality than this year's, moving from Oregon to South Carolina in the US. The country also started generating about three times as much solar power in the past seven years, Mather said.</p><p>"The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-georgia-became-green-manufacturing-capital-2024-3">market is just growing</a> very quickly," he said, "so the impact's going to be about three times as high as it was in 2017."</p><div type="image" title="Two engineers bring the solar panel for installation at the solar farm." height="3648" width="5472" msid="108918628" hostid="261" sizebytes="1292690"></div><p>However, Mather said there was very little <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cactos-energy-storage-startup-raises-28-5-million-in-fresh-funds-2024-1">battery energy storage</a> during the last eclipse. "We still don't have a ton, but we do have some," he said.</p><p>To make up for the decrease in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/helio-year-sun-solar-system-probe-eclipse-events-2024-1">solar power</a>, utilities will have to turn to other sources.</p><h2>There shouldn't be blackouts</h2><p>On any given day, utilities have already planned the amount of power they'll generate and where it will come from 10 days in advance, Mather said. Eclipse days are no different.</p><p>"One thing that we're doing here at NREL is actually working with a number of the entities that are most impacted by the eclipse," Mather said.</p><p>As the day draws closer, changing weather forecasts may alter the plans a bit. If it will be cloudy, the solar generation won't be as affected, for example.</p><p>One way utilities are preparing is by planning to carry more reserves, or extra generation that's online and ready to provide extra power when necessary, Mather said.</p><div type="image" title="A person looks at a total eclipse through a telescope with sunset colors in the horizon behind her." height="1920" width="2560" msid="108918629" hostid="261" sizebytes="31260"></div><p>"We actually saw this in the 2017 eclipse, specifically in California," he said. The state has a lot of solar power.</p><p>"So when the power does start to fall off because the solar starts to decrease, there's very little disturbance to the grid in terms of frequency, voltage, all those sorts of metrics that we track as power system engineers," he said.</p><p>The reserves typically use less-green energy sources, like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy18osti/71147.pdf">coal or natural gas</a>.</p><h2>The eclipse will impact California, Alaska, and other places outside the path of totality</h2><p>Many eyes will be on the skies in Texas, where populated cities like San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas are in the path of totality. It's also a state with a lot of solar power and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/renewable-energy-kept-texas-power-grid-stable-record-power-use-2023-8">its own grid</a>.</p><p>"In Texas, our estimations are that we will drop something like 14 gigawatts," Mather said. Just 1 gigawatt is enough to power 100 million LED bulbs, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/how-much-power-1-gigawatt">according to</a> the Office of Energy Efficiency &amp; Renewable Energy.</p><p>The eclipse looks fairly quick to humans, only taking a few minutes for the moon to pass by the sun. For solar panels, it's different, Mather said. Less intense sunlight will shine on the panels for longer than three to five minutes.</p><p>"The sun starts being occluded an hour or even more before the total eclipse happens," he said.</p><div type="image" title="A cheerleader smiles as she looks up at the sky holding eclipse glasses." height="1333" width="2000" msid="108918630" hostid="261" sizebytes="202708"></div><p>And the weaker sunlight will affect California and other states with solar panels.</p><p>Though it's far from the path of totality, Mather said, "the generation in San Diego, for instance, will still drop off by 50% or somewhere around there."</p><p>"There's so much focus on that path of totality, which I have no doubt is a very <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tips-how-to-take-pictures-photos-solar-eclipse-2024-2">cool thing to experience</a> as a human," he said. "But from a power system standpoint, it really is a nationwide impact that we will see."</p>

The eclipse will affect solar power in states like California that are far outside the path of totality 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>You won't want to miss the April total solar eclipse. The US won't see another until 2044.</li><li>But this rare astronomical event falls right in the middle of working hours on a Monday.</li></ul><p>Isn't it just our luck that the most anticipated astronomical event of the year falls on a Monday afternoon when most of us are working?</p><p>The first <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/great-american-total-solar-eclipse-where-view-see-cities-visible-2024-2">total solar eclipse</a> in the US since 2017 is sure to be astonishing, weather permitting.</p><p>On April 8, the moon's shadow will pass over the sun and thrust hundreds of cities from Texas to Maine into darkness.</p><p>Hundreds of schools are closing or letting out early for the event.</p><p>More than 100,000 flights are expected over the next few days as people travel to the path of totality (and for spring break).</p><p>And multiple cities across the US <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/total-solar-eclipse-2024-niagara-region-declares-state-of-emergency-2024-3">have declared a local state of emergency or disaster</a> to prepare for the surge in visitors.</p><p>So, if you're in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/total-eclipse-solar-power-generation-states-outside-path-totality-2024-3">path of totality</a> already, you owe it to yourself to try and get at least a free hour off work to catch the total eclipse on Monday.</p><p>Or if you're within a day's drive, take the day off for a spontaneous road trip with friends. You can check <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-eclipse-map-nasa-where-when-see-path-of-totality-2024-3">NASA's Eclipse map</a> to figure out where and when totality will be in your location.</p><p>Here are four reasons you can give your boss why you shouldn't be stuck at a desk for this rare cosmic event.</p><h2>1. The US won't get to experience totality again for 20 years</h2><div type="image" title="Total solar eclipse" height="3652" width="5307" msid="109042808" hostid="261"></div><p>Witnesses have described totality as an intense, profound, and even eerie experience.</p><p>David Baron, avid eclipse-chaser and author of the book "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.american-eclipse.com/author/">American Eclipse</a>," tries to see as many as he can. Over the years, he's seen eight total solar eclipses.</p><p>It was his friend, astronomer Jay Pasachoff, who first turned him into an eclipse chaser.</p><p>"He said, 'Before you die, you owe it to yourself to see a total solar eclipse,'" Baron recalled Pasachoff saying to him 30 years ago. "And he said it with such sincerity and such passion that I took him seriously, and I went to see my first total solar eclipse in 1998 in Aruba."</p><p>If you can drop everything to get to the path of totality on Monday (including your nine-to-five), you should, Baron said.</p><p>Since 1998, he's been chasing that awe-inspiring feeling that only totality can give you. The first time he saw totality, he was amazed by the sun's corona and the planets flanking it.</p><p>"I had this visceral sense that I've been transported outside our solar system to some other world, and I was looking back at the solar system" he said.</p><p>And for people living in the US, this opportunity for such an experience won't arise again until the year 2044.</p><h2>2. It's the longest and most visible total eclipse for the US in 100 years</h2><div type="image" title="NASA graphic showing the United States with a dark band stretching from Texas to Maine indicating the path of totality." height="960" width="1920" msid="109042811" hostid="261"></div><p>Several southern states — Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Illinois — will experience a whopping four minutes or more of totality.</p><p>That's nearly a minute longer than the average total eclipse over the last century, which has been 3 minutes and 13 seconds.</p><p>Totality is longer this time because Earth will be far from the sun, but the moon will be close to the Earth, causing the moon to block out more of the sun for longer.</p><p>If you're among the 300 million Americans who don't live in the path of totality, traveling there is worthwhile, said Fred Espenak, an astrophysicist whose passion for solar eclipses earned him the nickname <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mreclipse.com/">Mr Eclipse</a>. He's seen 24 total eclipses in his lifetime, recalling his first one in 1970.</p><p>Espenak started planning his first eclipse trip seven years out when he was just 11.</p><p>"1970 rolled around, I had just gotten my driver's license, and I convinced my parents to let me take the car and drive 600 miles to totality, unchaperoned," Espenak said.</p><p>And it was worth it. "It was so overwhelming," he said.</p><p>"You're standing there and daylight suddenly vanishes in a matter of 30 seconds," he said, later adding that, "It's very dramatic."</p><h2>3. You might get to see 2 planets and a massive comet at the same time</h2><div type="image" title="The green comet 12P/Pons-Brooks streaks through the sky against the dark, starry background of space." height="1080" width="1921" msid="109042813" hostid="261"></div><p>There's a chance that eclipse watchers might get to see four <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-2024-total-solar-eclipse-cool-best-special-nasa-2024-1">astronomical events</a> in one on April 8.</p><p>During the eclipse, the planets Venus and Jupiter will come into view as bright points of light just to the lower right and upper left of the eclipsed sun.</p><p>Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, a.k.a. The "<a target="_blank" href="http://businessinsider.com/how-to-see-green-devil-comet-during-total-solar-eclipse-2024-4">Devil comet,</a>" will also make a rare appearance in the sky during the eclipse.</p><p>The Devil comet only flies by Earth once every 71 years. It's unusually large — as big as Mount Everest — and glows green due to dicarbon in its chemical makeup.</p><p>The darkness afforded by totality could offer a rare opportunity to see this comet during the day, right next to the solar eclipse.</p><p>It will likely be just barely visible to the naked eye, showing up as a tiny gray smudge on the sky between the planet Jupiter and the eclipsed sun.</p><h2>4. You'll have the chance to watch massive eruptions on the sun</h2><div type="image" title="sun coronal mass ejection solar flare" height="1200" width="1200" msid="109042816" hostid="261"></div><p>What's especially unique about this year's total eclipse, is that right now the sun is near solar maximum, which occurs about every 11 years.</p><p>Solar maximum is when the sun's magnetic field flips, triggering more solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and sun spots.</p><p>What this means for eclipse watchers is that you'll have a better chance of seeing these massive, blazing jets of plasma erupt from the sun's surface that will appear as tiny neon-pink spikes.</p><p>Witnessing the power of the sun in this way is an awesome — and humbling — experience, Baron said. For him, the real reason to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-inmates-lawsuit-witness-upcoming-solar-eclipse-2024-4">see the solar eclipse</a> is to be reminded of the bigger picture.</p><p>"It's a useful lesson to learn over and over again — just to be grateful to be alive on this planet and to realize that while we are tiny and kind of insignificant, we're part of something enormous and amazing, and that's the universe," he said.</p><h2>Watch safely</h2><div type="image" title="sudan solar eclipse" height="1677" width="2808" msid="109042818" hostid="261"></div><p>Even if you're making last-minute arrangements to miss work for the eclipse, it's important to make sure you're properly prepared.</p><p>It's unsafe to look directly at the sun during a partial eclipse with your eyes, phone, or camera. The powerful solar radiation could permanently damage your vision or electronics.</p><p>To watch safely, you'll need to wear protective <a target="_blank" href="http://businessinsider.com/%20how-to-safely-watch-total-solar-eclipse-without-special-eclipse-glasses-2024-4">eclipse glasses</a>, use <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tips-how-to-take-pictures-photos-solar-eclipse-2024-2">protective filters</a> for your phone or camera, or use another viewing method, like looking through a welder's glass or a pinhole camera.</p><p>It's only safe to look at the eclipse directly without eye protection during totality, when the moon blots out the sun's harsh rays.</p>

4 reasons to convince your boss to let you miss work for the total solar eclipse

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The second moon that Earth has captured in its orbit this month is an asteroid called 2024 PT5.</li><li>Mini-moons like this could be ideal targets for asteroid mining to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-havent-we-been-to-mars-yet-2024-5">send humans deeper into space</a>.</li></ul><p>The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/second-moon-orbiting-earth-when-why-what-to-know-2024-9 ">second moon that Earth now has for two months</a> may seem like just a fun curiosity, but it's also a sneak peek at a future space industry that could change our global economy.</p><p>An asteroid called 2024 PT5, which normally orbits the sun as part of the Arjuna asteroid belt, was <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronomers-photograph-mini-moon-small-object-in-orbit-2020-2">captured in Earth's orbit</a> on Sunday, according to astronomers' projections. Astronomers expect it to spend about 57 days traveling along a horseshoe-shaped path around Earth before rejoining its asteroid belt.</p><p>For those 57 days, the school-bus-sized <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-asteroid-impact-simulation-experts-fear-congress-would-delay-action-2024-6">asteroid</a> will be a "natural satellite" of Earth — basically another, temporary moon.</p><div type="image" title="screenshot of asteroid profile page showing illustration of a bumpy candy-corn-shaped grey asteroid in space with a text box labeling it 2024 PT5 and saying its average estimated diameter is 10.76 m" height="1537" width="2864" msid="113817839" hostid="261" sizebytes="68552"></div><p>That makes it economically intriguing. "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fake-moon-asteroid-orbiting-sun-alongside-earth-astronomers-discover-2023-6">Mini-moons</a>" like this are ideal targets for mining, according to Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, one of the scientists who charted 2024 PT5's path around our planet.</p><p><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asteroid-mining-company-earth-startups-raw-materials-cobalt-gold-platinum-2021-3">Asteroid mining</a> could someday help humans travel further out into the cosmos and extend our presence through the solar system. That's because some asteroids contain valuable metals like iron or platinum, as well as water.</p><p><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plan-colonize-mars-plan-unrealistic-scientists-explain-2023-10">Elon Musk's vision of a city on Mars</a>, for example, depends on asteroid mining. Temporary moons like 2024 PT5 could be a key stepping stone.</p><p>"Mini-moons are very important for the nascent global <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-helping-private-companies-build-business-moon-make-lunar-billions-2023-6">space economy</a>," Marcos told Business Insider in an email. Because they come so close to Earth and take a sojourn in our orbit, he added, "they are among the objects easier to reach using low-cost missions."</p><h2 id="462c4c69-18b1-4a3f-8e7d-7cb0491d6b39">Asteroids can be worth quintillions</h2><p>Asteroid 2024 PT5 may not be worth much, since scientists think it's made of basalt.</p><p>It's basically "a giant boulder," Teddy Kareta, a planetary scientist at the Lowell Observatory, told Business Insider.</p><p>But some asteroids contain so much metal that they're <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-visit-psyche-asteroid-worth-more-than-entire-world-economy-2023-10">worth more than our entire global economy</a>.</p><p>Take Psyche, for example, an asteroid that NASA is sending a spacecraft to for scientific study, since the agency believes it to be the core of a long-dead planet.</p><p>Psyche's metal-rich makeup — mostly iron and nickel — makes it worth an estimated $100 quintillion if it were here on Earth.</p><div type="image" title="graphic of what the asteroid is thought to look like" height="900" width="1600" msid="113817842" hostid="261" sizebytes="175866"></div><p>Some asteroids even have precious metals like platinum, gold, and cobalt.</p><p>Nobody has mined an asteroid yet, though <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-video-osiris-rex-probe-landing-on-asteroid-kicking-dust-2020-10">NASA punched one</a><strong> </strong>in 2020 to grab scientific samples from it.</p><p>Some startups are trying to figure out how to start mining space rocks, and do it in a cost-effective way. Flying to an asteroid isn't cheap.</p><p>One of them, called <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/asteroid-mining-startup-has-booked-its-first-test-mission-spacex-2022-6">AstroForge, has launched a small probe with SpaceX</a>, though the spacecraft wasn't able to conduct the testing they'd planned, according to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.space.com/asteroid-mining-astroforge-docking-mission-2025">Space.com</a>. The company is now planning two more missions, which it hopes will culminate in its first landing on a metallic asteroid in 2025.</p><h2 id="e5b0dd4a-bb61-4c4d-a49c-2d9e9a2960a9">Pit stops on the way to Mars</h2><p>Long-distance <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-invest-mars-pulsed-plasma-rocket-shorten-space-time-travel-2024-7">deep-space missions</a>, especially if they're carrying humans and cargo, will have a fuel problem.</p><p>Fuel is heavy, so the less of it you have to load onto a spacecraft the better. On the long flight to Mars or other planets, asteroids could become gas stations.</p><p>That's because <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/article/506/1/L6/6298231?login=false">research</a> <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018JE005584">suggests</a> that many asteroids in Earth's neighborhood are rich in water, which can be mined and split into its elementary components — hydrogen and oxygen, both of which are critical for making rocket fuel.</p><p>Mini-moons are perfect places to start, some scientists think, because of their proximity to Earth but also because of how small they are.</p><p>It takes an immense amount of rocket fuel to escape Earth's powerful gravitational pull. But little asteroids don't have much gravity, making it easy to leapfrog off of them.</p><p>"It only takes a puff of fuel to leave the mini-moon and head back towards Earth," Richard Binzel, a planetary scientist at MIT, previously told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/undiscovered-minimoons-may-orbit-earth-could-they-help-us-become-an-interplanetary-species">Live Science</a>.</p><h2 id="bf8bc193-7a0a-4a09-9d9c-2c6ac7e8d411">Mini-moon missions at the ready</h2><p>One problem with mini-moons is that scientists sometimes don't see them coming until a few weeks before they're captured in our planet's orbit.</p><p>Asteroid 2024 PT5, for example, was first identified as a mini-moon in early September and will only be in Earth's orbit for about 57 days.</p><p>That's a tight timeline for preparing and launching a mining mission. For any asteroid, "you need to learn enough about it to know whether it's worth sending a rocket up," Kareta said.</p><p>Asteroid-mining companies can work around that by having mining spacecraft ready in Earth's orbit, waiting for the right space rock to zoom by, Marcos said.</p><p>"Either if you are thinking about collecting mineral samples for research or starting a space mining venture, mini-moons are your best bet to get your business off the ground," he said.</p>

Mini-moons like the one Earth just captured could be huge business opportunities

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronal-hole-on-sun-blasts-solar-wind-toward-earth-2023-3">The sun</a> has a big year in 2024, starting with a total solar eclipse across the US.</li><li>As the sun builds to maximum activity, watch out for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/northern-lights-sky-friday-us-solar-winds-giant-hole-sun-2023-3">the northern lights</a> too.</li></ul><p>The sun was showing off all last year, with dramatic eruptions, sunspots, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/second-giant-coronal-hole-sun-solar-winds-space-weather-aurora-2023-3">giant "holes,"</a> and even a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-video-solar-tornado-plasma-2023-3">14-earths-high tornado of plasma</a>. But 2024 may be our star's biggest year yet.</p><p>That's what giddy <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sun-polar-vortex-video-from-solar-plasma-break-2023-2">NASA</a> scientists told reporters at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco in December. In true NASA fashion, they're calling it the "heliophysics big year."</p><div type="image" title="solar flare" height="627" width="1089" msid="107672113" hostid="261" sizebytes="43108"></div><p>One of the main events this year will be a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-2024-total-solar-eclipse-cool-best-special-nasa-2024-1">historically cool total solar eclipse crossing the US in April</a>. It's estimated up to 7.4 million people will travel to the path of totality to witness the rare event.</p><p>Another exciting event involves NASA's prime solar probe, which is set to skim <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sunspots-15-times-size-of-earth-solar-storm-into-view-2023-11">the sun's surface</a> in December, flying closer than any previous spacecraft.</p><div type="image" title="total solar eclipse 2019" height="1290" width="1960" msid="107188970" hostid="261"></div><p>Meanwhile, the Northern and Southern Lights are sure to have an impressive year, as well.</p><p>Already, we've seen beautiful aurora reach as far south as Arizona within the last year. And as<strong> </strong><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sun-more-active-solar-storms-auroras-power-outages-grounded-flights-2023-2">stormy activity on the sun,</a> which helps spark aurora worldwide, is set to increase, we could continue to see the Northern Lights illuminate skies across the US at unusually low latitudes.</p><p>For viewers in Australia, New Zealand, and South America, the Southern Lights (aurora australis) will surely make spectacular displays too.</p><div type="image" title="ribbons of green pink purple northern lights stretch across the night sky above homes and lights of a sprawling town" height="1500" width="2250" msid="107188973" hostid="261"></div><p>It will be about 11 years — a full <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/next-solar-maximum-2025-what-expect-cycle-2023-4">solar cycle</a> — before the aurora is so active again.</p><p>"<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-maximum-could-sooner-than-expected-2023-6">The sun</a> touches everything, and we are challenging you to experience the sun in as many ways as possible," Kelly Korreck, NASA's program manager for the upcoming eclipse, said during the AGU roundtable.</p><h2>The sun's big year kicks off with a total eclipse</h2><div type="image" title="A cheerleader smiles as she looks up at the sky holding eclipse glasses." height="1333" width="2000" msid="107672115" hostid="261" sizebytes="202708"></div><p>While the rest of us put on our <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-where-when-see-solar-eclipse-united-states-nasa-map-2023-3">eclipse glasses</a> or look out for the pink and green ribbons of the aurora, astronomers will be busy at work. This year's solar events are a huge scientific opportunity.</p><p>For example, NASA is launching three rockets during the April total solar eclipse, loaded with instruments to study how the sudden darkness changes our upper atmosphere.</p><p>A total solar eclipse offers scientists a unique opportunity to observe the corona — the outer layer of the sun's atmosphere. The corona is over 100 times hotter than the sun's surface, but scientists can't explain why and it's one of the biggest mysteries in our solar system. Because the moon blocks the main disc of the sun during an eclipse, only the corona is visible.</p><p>NASA's Parker Solar Probe and the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter will also be watching the eclipse from two different vantage points in space, as they orbit close to the sun. That extra data can help scientists get 3D observations of the corona, as well as validate measurements from Earth-based observatories.</p><p>That's just one fleeting moment of the sun's big year. Throughout 2024, as solar activity builds, countless observatories and physicists will be watching closely.</p><h2>The sun will get more and more active</h2><div type="image" title="X-class solar flare erupting off the sun." height="747" width="800" msid="107188979" hostid="261"></div><p>When <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-flare-from-sunspot-caused-widespread-radio-blackouts-earth-2023-5">the sun belches</a> plasma and charged particles into space, they can speed toward Earth, travel down our planet's magnetic field lines toward the poles, and interact with molecules in our atmosphere to make the aurora. They can also bump satellites out of orbit and surge through technologies on the ground, triggering radio blackouts and meddling with GPS.</p><div type="image" title="solar flare red orange plasma erupting from the sun's surface" height="1500" width="1500" msid="107672116" hostid="261" sizebytes="153010"></div><p>There's always a steady flow of this "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-discovered-solar-wind-disappear-around-mars-2023-12">solar wind</a>," but eruptions on the sun can send a powerful flood of solar wind careening toward our planet. That's what scientists call space weather. These storms are happening more and more as the sun climbs toward peak activity.</p><div type="image" title="Solar Wind" height="360" width="640" msid="107188982" hostid="261"></div><p>People on Earth are safe from these blasts of solar activity, with the exception of rare cases where they might cause power or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/titanic-theory-suggests-aurora-borealis-solar-storm-affected-crash-2020-9">radio blackouts</a>. But as NASA and other space agencies send humans back to the moon and on to Mars, space weather will become a safety issue for them.</p><p>Studying solar eruptions and flares can help scientists forecast space weather better in the future. That could be crucial for long-distance spaceflights.</p><p>"If we want to win the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-up-the-ante-space-race-sky-ladder-to-mars-2021-6">race to Mars</a> then we have to have awareness of space weather all over the place," Nour Raouafi, a lead scientist for the Parker Solar Probe, said at the roundtable.</p><h2>NASA to almost land on the sun at the end of the year</h2><div type="image" title="nasa parker solar probe plus sun mission illustration" height="1687" width="3000" msid="107188983" hostid="261"></div><p>The "crown jewel" of the sun's big year comes on December 24, though, Raouafi said. That's when the Parker Solar Probe will fly closer to the sun than any spacecraft has ever gone, about 3.8 million miles from its surface.</p><p>For comparison, Earth is 93 million miles from the sun.</p><p>On this close flyby, the probe will face unfathomably extreme heat and radiation, with temperatures as high as 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit.</p><p>Collecting data so close to the source of the solar wind will help scientists understand how it forms. It will also fuel the study of the corona.</p><p>"This is a monumental achievement for all of humanity. This is equivalent to the moon landing of '69. Now we are basically almost landing on a star," Raouafi said.</p>

You Searched For "solar system" and got 10 results

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