SPACE WEATHER QUESTION SOLUTION

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Question 1 solution.

Question 2 solution

3 different space weather phenomenon that influence solar cell performance on your satellite

include:

In satellites, the solar panels are the most affected components due to various solar activities.

The normal erosion rates for solar panels are usually 0.3% to 1% per year. The following space

phenomena can influence the functioning of solar panels:

 Solar winds

 Solar flares

 Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)

The surface of the Sun is a very busy place. It has electrically charged gases that generate strong

magnetic fields. The Sun’s gases are constantly moving, which tangles, stretches and twists the

magnetic fields lines. This motion creates a lot of activity on the Sun's surface.

The solar wind is a stream of particles and magnetic field flowing away from the outer surface

of the Sun known as the Corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha

particles with kinetic energy between 0.5 and 10 keV. The solar wind is constant but varies in

intensity.

Sunspots are darker and cooler areas on the surface of the sun where the magnetic field is very

strong. These high magnetic fields in the sunspot-producing active regions give rise to

explosions known as solar flares. They are formed due to reorganization of twisted magnetic

field lines resulting to sudden explosion of energy. These are the most extreme form of solar
storms. They discharge large amounts of radiation and a highly charged cloud of protons in

particular.

The magnetic field lines that twists up to form solar flares occasionally become so warped that

they snap and break, and then reconnect at other points. The gaps that form no longer hold the

sun's plasma on its surface and the plasma explodes into space as coronal mass ejection

(CMEs). When CMEs occur, a huge amount of plasma and magnetic energy is emitted. CMEs

bring an increase in radiation but unlike flares, they also bring charged particles of matter.

Solar activities causes solar panels to deteriorate over time, and powerful single events can even

lead to a sudden reduction in the efficiency of a solar panel. The solar cells on the power arrays

of satellites are susceptible to radiation damage, and the solar-cell radiation response strongly

affects the full capability of the spacecraft and, ultimately, the mission's lifetime. Since one

cannot prevent the radiation from striking the solar panels, panels are built in such a way that

they are resilient to the effects of radiation damage.

Question 3 solution

 The sunlight is considered a natural sterilizer.

 It is mainly consisting of three components. 1) Infrared 2) Visible Light 3) UV

 Among this UV rays have sterilization power.

 UV rays are generally 10nm- 400 nm in wavelength.

 UV rays are mainly composed of 3 types of rays 1) UVA 2) UVB 3) UVC

 Majority of UV rays reaching earth are UVA whereas only less UVB and nearly no

UVC reaches earth (these are filtered in the ozone layer)

  UVC rays are able to destruct the genetic material of both humans and virus. These

have wavelength between 280-100 nm and photon energy 4.43 -12.4 eV.

 Since sunlight doesn't consist much UVC, the efficiency of sunlight to kill Covid-19 is

less.

 Even if sunlight can kill Covid-19, we don't know where, when and how much it can

kill Covid 19.

 Exposing humans directly to UVC is also harmful as it can seriously create some

disruptions in the body.

Van Allen Belts

 Van Allen belt consists of charged electrons and protons which are originate from

solar wind captured by the earth's magnetic field.

 Earth has two such belts. The outer and inner radiation belt.

 The inner belt has a high concentration of electrons about few hundred keV and

protons of above 100 MeV.

 The outer belt has electrons of concentration between 0.1 - 10 MeV.

Hence, the virus particles can't survive under these high radiation in these belts.

Question 4 solution.

Question 5 solution

Solar flares emit electromagnetic waves in a broad wavelength spectrum including X‐rays,

extreme ultraviolet (EUVs), and radio waves, causing an impact on GPS signals through the

following direct and indirect ways. Solar EUV radiation is the major source of ionization in the
Earth's upper atmosphere. Ionization due to EUV flares causes sudden changes in electron

density along satellite‐receiver links, which result in unexpected signal delays and degradation of

GNSS application performance. The EUV impact on the differential carrier phase appears as a

sudden increase in total electron content (TEC). TEC responses are closely related to solar EUV

flux enhancements, especially good correlations have been reported for the 26‐ to 34‐nm

wavelength range (e.g., Le et al., 2013; Tsurutani et al., 2005). On the other hand, solar radio

bursts may be composed by intense radio fluxes that exceed those observed under quiet solar

conditions by several orders of magnitude. Such extreme radio burst events in the L‐band

frequency range can directly interfere with GNSS signals.

Question 6 solution

An article about space weather impact on terrestrial biology. Submit a cool figure from it

The image is from an article titled: The effect of space weather on Human Body at the

Spitsbergen Archipelago

Figure 1[ CITATION Nat18 \l 1033 ]

Question 7 solution
The ozone layer is an environmental gaseous layer in the atmosphere of earth that protects

humans and other living organisms from the sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Even

though the ozone is found in small amounts in the atmosphere, the majority (approximately 90

percent) is found in the stratosphere, a layer 10 to 50 kilometers above the surface of the Earth.

The ozone layer is vital to life on Earth because it filters out the majority of the sun's impact

hazards on the Ultraviolet radiation.

The magnetosphere protects our home world from solar and cosmic particle radiation, along with

the solar wind's relentless stream of charged particles that erode the atmosphere.

Ozone is a molecule consist of three oxygen atoms and is found largely in stratosphere, where it

absorbs a significant fraction of incoming UV-B radiations. Most ozone is formed near the

equator, distributed throughout the stratosphere by global air circulation, this circulation

generates greatest of ozone at mid-latitudes.

Change in solar radiation and increase in stratospheric particles from volcanic eruptions both

effects the abundance of stratospheric ozone, but they have not caused the long term decreases

observed in total ozone. The formation of stratospheric ozone is initiated by UVR coming from

the sun, as a result an increase in sun's radiation output increases the amount of ozone in Earth's

atmosphere. The sun's radiation number and sunspot number vary over the well-known 11 year

solar cycle. Observations over several solar cycle shows that global total ozone level vary by up

to 1 to 2% between the maximum and minimum of a typical cycle.

Question 8 solution

Question 9 solution
Mars is one of the favorite planets for the astronomer to find the finding of life and its variations.

Yes, human beings are exploring Mars and it is done by Space agencies of the world which is

working continuously in this regard.

Some of the major problems of Mass exploration are as follows:

 Unavailability of water on this planet is one of the major problems.

 Its dry atmosphere is the problem and so on.

Some of the solutions for the explorations are as follows:

 It can be done by the vast exploration process and we need to trace the water or we

need to synthesize water on this planet for the mass exploration.

 Most importantly, we need to begin the people's living there on a small scale and this

will be the milestone in exploration of Mars.

Some of the space agencies of the world had said that it will take 20 to 30 years more to reach

Mars when we will have life and space on Mars.

Question 10 solution

Question 11 solution

Question 12 solution
Yes, society should care about impact asteroids as they can be hazardous to our society. They

can be preventable, but we need to find asteroid's orbit, need to track their path and their size.

But this is not so easy to find out hazardous asteroids. We have to educate people about the

impact asteroids. At the same time society shouldn't lose sleep over it because their probability is

very low.

In case of nearby supernova explosion, society shouldn't care about it because it won't affect our

solar system. Any supernova explosion takes much time to happen so one shouldn't care about it.

For climate change, yes society should concerned about it. As it directly affect our day to day

life. It effects on human's social, political and economic systems. For example, if there is

Pandemic crisis then all the governments in the world would try to fix it. Another example, is

melting glaciers which directly affect sea level and various organizations have shown that by

Year 2040-50 some metropolitan cities will submerge into nearby sea. So we have to think about

climate change, their affecting factors, their sources etc.

Question 13 solution

B.M.Vladimirskii, et al. “Space weather and our

life”, Fryazino: “Vek
2”, 2004, 224 pages.
B.M.Vladimirskii, et al. “Space weather and our
life”, Fryazino: “Vek
2”, 2004, 224 pages.
 B.M.Vladimirskii, et al. “Space weather and
our life”, Fryazino: “Vek
2”, 2004, 224 pages.
B.M.Vladimirskii, et al. “Space weather and
our life”, Fryazino: “Vek
2”, 2004, 224 pages.
B.M.Vladimirskii, et al. “Space weather and
our life”, Fryazino: “Vek
2”, 2004, 224 pages.
 F.Jansen, R.Pirjola, R. Favre, “Space Weather Hazard to the Earth?” Zurich: Swiss Re

Publishing, 2000, 40 pages.

 B.M.Vladimirskii, et al., “Space Weather and Our Life”, Fryazino, “Vek 2” Press, 2004,

224 pages (in Russian).