NASA Warns Of Internet Apocalypse That Could Disable Internet For Months Or Even Years

 

NASA has launched a spacecraft as part of a mission to avert a potential “internet apocalypse” that could leave people on earth without access to the internet.

The mission from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP) has successfully travelled through solar winds for the very first time gathering vital data that could help prevent a global broadband blackout.

Scientists have been warning about the potential impact of an upcoming solar storm, commonly referred to as an “internet apocalypse”, which could strike within the next ten years.

The resulting radiation could knock out satellites and power lines leaving people offline for months…. or even years.

The Mirror reports: The spacecraft, which was launched five years ago, went on a remarkable journey which took it close to the sun’s surface, where solar wind is generated.

Solar wind consists of a continuous stream of charged particles emanating from the sun’s outermost atmosphere, known as the corona.

Despite the extreme conditions of intense heat and radiation, the Parker Solar Probe persevered to gather crucial insights into the workings of the sun.

Professor Stuart Bale, the lead author of the study and affiliated with California University in the United States, explained the significance of understanding solar wind.

He said: “Winds carry lots of information from the sun to Earth. So understanding the mechanism behind the sun’s wind is important for practical reasons on Earth.

“That’s going to affect our ability to understand how the sun releases energy and drives geomagnetic storms – which are a threat to our communication networks.”

Such an event could leave people without internet access for months or even years, rendering satellites and power lines useless.

The Parker Solar Probe, with its advanced instrumentation, detected solar wind with unparalleled detail, uncovering crucial information that is lost as the wind exits the corona in the form of photons and electrons.

The team of U.S. researchers likened the experience to “seeing jets of water emanating from a showerhead through the blast of water hitting you in the face.”

These findings helped identify a phenomenon known as “supergranulation flows” within coronal holes, where magnetic fields emerge.

The team suggests that these regions serve as the origin points for the high-speed solar wind.

Typically found at the sun’s poles during quiet periods, the holes do not directly impact Earth.

However, during the sun’s active phase every 11 years, when its magnetic field flips, these holes appear across the sun’s surface, generating bursts of solar wind aimed directly at our planet.