The launch of the Artemis-2 mission, scheduled for April 1, depends on many factors. One of them is solar flares. That is why scientists closely monitor space weather.
A powerful solar flare on the eve of the mission
As NASA prepares for the launch of Artemis-2, a powerful solar flare that occurred earlier this week is once again drawing attention to space weather—and highlighting the unpredictable risks astronauts may face beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
Professor Keith Ryden, head of the Space Environment and Protection research team at the Surrey Space Centre, shared his latest insights on what this flare means for the mission and why such events remain difficult to predict. His commentary also includes historical context provided by Clive Dyer, a visiting professor at the Surrey Space Centre who worked on the Apollo program:
“The Florida weather looks set to be fair for the Artemis II launch, but space weather could still cause some anxious moments; our engineers and scientists at the Surrey Space Centre have been closely monitoring the situation. At 02:47am UTC on Monday, 30 March, the sun emitted a strong X-class solar flare which lasted an hour. While this flare was not itself a direct hazard to the mission, it reminds us of what could happen.”
“We do know that sometimes such flares are accompanied by outbursts of high-energy radiation particles, which can travel near the speed of light and would easily penetrate space vehicle shielding.”
High-energy particles and their dangers
The solar flare that occurred on Monday originated in the eastern part of the Sun, but this “active region” is expected to become more closely aligned magnetically with Earth and the Moon in the coming days as it continues to rotate toward the western part. This could make it easier for the resulting radioactive particles to reach us. On the other hand, this active region could simply disappear, or a new one could appear at any moment. As of now, we simply don’t have the tools to predict the future.
In August 1972, between the launches of the last two Apollo missions (Apollo 16 and Apollo 17), a major solar storm occurred quite unexpectedly. In fact, between August 2 and 11, one of the largest solar particle eruptions in the history of the space age occurred. High-energy radiation particles can cause malfunctions in computers and electronic equipment, and also pose a health risk to astronauts. Of course, NASA engineers and mission controllers will implement numerous safety measures, tests, and procedures to minimize the risk during this launch. However, every solar event is unique, and ground-based facilities cannot fully replicate the space environment.
“The Surrey Space Centre is currently working with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the UK Space Agency on a new, highly compact High Energy Particle Instrument (HEPI) to measure these high-energy particles. We are already planning for its deployment in lunar orbit as part of the CLAIRE payload on the ESA Volatile Mineralogy Mapping Orbiter (VMMO). By doing this, we aim to better characterize the danger to future lunar bases, as well as to Earth.”
According to phys.org
