Solar Orbiter Satellite Hit by CME with Extreme Solar Storm Risk at High Speed

Following two consecutive coronal mass ejection (CME) clouds hitting the Earth, some believed that the Sun’s onslaught for the week had come to an end. However, the astronomy community was taken aback by another incident. On July 26, a farside flare eruption resulted in an exceptionally strong CME that collided with the Solar Orbiter satellite operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). Fortunately, the CME cloud only grazed the satellite as it was moving in a different path. Had it been directed towards Earth, it could have triggered a severe solar storm due to its immense power.

According to a SpaceWeather.com report, “Two days ago, a bright CME rocketed off the backside of the Sun. Its sky-level velocity in SOHO coronagraph images exceeded 1,500 km/s. Had this CME hit Earth, the result would certainly have been a strong (possibly severe) geomagnetic storm. Instead it flew in the opposite direction and hit the European Solar Orbiter (SolO) spacecraft.

CME hits Solar Orbiter

This CME was recorded traveling at extreme speed. The report mentions that it would normally take a CME 2-3 days to reach the location of Solar Orbiter, but it made the trip in just 32 hours. Astronomers call it a major solar event, even if Earth isn’t involved.

George Ho, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab and principal investigator of the Solar Orbiter’s Energetic Particle Detector suite, told SpaceWeather: “During the 1989 Quebec blackout, it was this type of shock-induced particle growth. The arrival of the CME that knocked out the power.” According to the orbiter’s post-impact data, 50 MeV ions reached the spacecraft, an increase of 10,000 from normal.

It is not yet clear if the Solar Orbiter suffered any damage, but we expect to find out in the coming days.

If a solar storm of the same intensity were to hit Earth, it could disrupt GPS, disrupt cell phone networks and the Internet, and even cause a massive blackout by corrupting power grids. Even electronic devices on Earth are not safe from malfunctions.

Solar Orbiter’s protection from solar storms

At the heart of this protection technology is thermal protection. The heat shield is a 10-foot-tall and 8-foot-wide sandwich-like structure. The front layer features thin titanium foil sheets, followed by a honeycomb aluminum base coated with additional foil insulation. A nearly 10-inch gap in the cowling funnels heats into space. A smaller, second gap is between the inner slice and the spacecraft.