New method helps safeguard astronauts by forecasting space radiation hazards with up to one hour advance warnings

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The one-million-degree solar corona in extreme ultraviolet light taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatorys Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) in November 2003. Hazardous solar activity is only minutes away. Another SOHO instrument the ...
The one-million-degree solar corona in extreme ultraviolet light taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory’s Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) in November 2003. Hazardous solar activity is only minutes away. Another SOHO instrument, the Comprehensive Suprathermal and Energetic Particle Analyzer (COSTEP), monitors space for electrons from the Sun.

One of the greatest threats to human space exploration is the sudden, unpredictable occurrence of radiation outbursts from the Sun. Researchers have long sought a method for predicting when the hazardous particles from extreme solar events, such as flares, coronal mass ejections and radio bursts, would reach humans or technology in space.


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