ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS don’t reply properly to extremely charged particles. Accelerated to close the pace of sunshine by Earth’s magnetic area, such particles pack sufficient kinetic vitality to trigger injury. Historical past provides ample proof of the implications: in 1859 an enormous photo voltaic storm referred to as the Carrington occasion began fires at telegraph stations. A century later, a giant American nuclear take a look at referred to as Starfish Prime launched sufficient energetic particles to fry a 3rd of all satellites then in orbit.