Nasa warns of effects of 'space storm'

-BA- · 16 Jun 2010 at 09:26

Le_Petit_Lapin said:
IIRC the Nasa statement said something like "countries with weak power grids, such as Eastern Europe and Britain" could have problems. It didnt say "OMG, Britain is about to get hit head on by a massive sun-fart" like that sensationalist article claims.

We have a weak power grid? And that's coming from one of the most powerful nations in the world who, in 2003, had a blackout that effected 45 million people across 8 US states?

That country is so backward sometimes.........

JaffaJedi · 16 Jun 2010 at 09:35

I_M_Weasel said:
How ofton does anyone get a power cut in the uk? I've once had low voltage (lights were a bit dim) but uk power seems reliable to me. I wonder why we're singled out for being at risk.

We had 4 last year... longest lasted 6 hours

I think the local farmer must have bought a bigger plough and hit cables.

rypt · 16 Jun 2010 at 09:57

Le_Petit_Lapin said:
IIRC the Nasa statement said something like "countries with weak power grids, such as Eastern Europe and Britain" could have problems. It didnt say "OMG, Britain is about to get hit head on by a massive sun-fart" like that sensationalist article claims.

Nice to be finally considered in our rightful place, along with Eastern European countries, as having a crap infrastructure

robgmun · 16 Jun 2010 at 09:59

Joking aside, there were quite a few brownouts when i was in birmingham last week

gord · 16 Jun 2010 at 10:03

KNiVES said:
Blaaaaaaack!

"Whats for tea mother? Shadows and lies on toast."

"Black like the eternal darkness that leads to the chasm of clams"

jr1104 · 16 Jun 2010 at 10:09

I_M_Weasel said:
How ofton does anyone get a power cut in the uk? I've once had low voltage (lights were a bit dim) but uk power seems reliable to me. I wonder why we're singled out for being at risk.

Because it was BRITISH petroleums fault for the oil spill, and this is America taking revenge.

wozzizname · 16 Jun 2010 at 10:19

Better stock up on clockwork radios and laptops before the prices rise then.

Cosimo · 16 Jun 2010 at 10:34

wozzizname said:
Better stock up on clockwork radios and laptops before the prices rise then.

You’ll be playing and listening to yourself.

antijoke · 16 Jun 2010 at 10:37

So is this one of those situations where it 'might' happen? Or is it more along the lines of it 'will' happen?

i-bert · 16 Jun 2010 at 11:25

anticonscience said:
So is this one of those situations where it 'might' happen? Or is it more along the lines of it 'will' happen?

It just depends if we are in the firing line when it lets one go. If we feel the full force then it could be bad.

Kutter · 16 Jun 2010 at 12:18

Makes me chuckle that the yanks think our grid is bad. I cant remeber the last power outage here in burnley. Yet in New Hampshire we are 10 mile away from a nuke power station and we had 2 outages over xmas due to strong winds, then last xmas we had 4 days without power due to the icestorm.

Think i prefer the uk grid to be honest.

Cosimo · 16 Jun 2010 at 12:36

anticonscience said:
So is this one of those situations where it 'might' happen? Or is it more along the lines of it 'will' happen?

It might "happen":

Dr Fisher, a Nasa scientist for 20 years, said these two events would combine in 2013 to produce huge levels of radiation.

He said large swathes of the world could face being without power for several months, although he admitted that was unlikely.

A more likely scenario was that large areas, including northern Europe and Britain which have “fragile” power grids, would be without power and access to electronic devices for hours, possibly even days.

He said preparations were similar to those in a hurricane season, where authorities knew a problem was imminent but did not know how serious it would be.

Read a bit more:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...-huge-space-storm-will-cause-devastation.html

Yamahahahahaha · 16 Jun 2010 at 12:51

Well on the plus side, we won't need heating because of Global Warming.

Andelusion · 16 Jun 2010 at 13:22

gord said:
"Whats for tea mother? Shadows and lies on toast."

"Black like the eternal darkness that leads to the chasm of clams"

"Black! Like the Devil's womb!"

"You keep me in the cellar and feed me pins!!"

998cc · 16 Jun 2010 at 13:30

Must get out into space when this happens.

Fantastic Four powers anyone?

waveydave79 · 24 Jun 2010 at 01:04

Yamahahahahaha said:
Well on the plus side, we won't need heating because of Global Warming.

This has nothing to do with global warming. Nothing we have done to mess up the planet would cuase this.

I am suprised that this has not been on many of the news sites yet, if this thing does go off its going to cuase so much economic damage, the world would fall apart

If it hits the US it will also effect the UK it doesnt matter that were on a different land mess, the core of the earth is charged.

We would get some warnings, as there is a satilitte that tracks these events, the warning may be anything from 1 hour, to 2 days depending on the speed of the event (Coronel mass ejection).

Lets hope that it is a dudd.

AMG · 24 Jun 2010 at 02:40

the sun is getting hotter and more unstable by the year so we will soon see quite a lot of this (in years to come)

and that was coming from a country that had a major blackout in 2003......don't you just love the US of A

thats way the earth has a magnetic feild to help defend against this unless its of the opposite charge