English 102 Research Paper

Simon Luu

ESS 102 Writing Credit

Synopsis of Writing Project

Research Paper

Synopsis

In the year 3000, the planet Earth is a desolate wasteland. It has been a little over a half a century since the “big one” hit the Earth. The majority of the human race has been eliminated with only a few hundred remaining. The only ones who have survived barely made it on to the spaceship as the big one smashed the Earth. Marcus is one of the many survivors coping with solar winds and debris floating around the Moon. After half a century, the survivors are running out of supplies on the moon. The crew must go back to post-apocalyptic Earth and explore the wasteland. Marcus knows that this journey will not be an easy one. They encounter different

obstacles on the way towards Earth. While on Earth, Marcus’ crew encounter many more obstacles preventing them from advancing towards their goal. While on Earth they experience the same space weather they experience on the moon. Will Marcus and his crew be successful in their supply run or will they be stopped by nature?

Research Topic on Space Weather

What exactly is space weather? By definition, space weather is a natural process in space that affects human environment, satellites, and space travel. The energy emitted from the sun is emitted as flares of electromagnetic radiation and energetic electrically charged particles through coronal mass ejections and plasma streams (NRC). The particles flow through space as solar winds. The solar winds can affect humans and space travel which has slowed down human space exploration. The speed and density of the solar winds influences the type of space weather. Depending on the speed and density of the solar winds, phenomenon such as geomagnetic storms, energization of the Van Allen radiation belts, ionospheric disturbances, and scintillation of satellite-to-ground radio signals can occur (SL). These space weather phenomenon affects human space travel. Some of these phenomena have negative effects on space travel while some have positive effects. This research paper will explain these phenomenon in detail on how it affects the Earth, our technology, and why it prevents us from human space exploration.

The first phenomenon that is associated with space weather is geomagnetic storms. By definition, a geomagnetic storm is a temporary disturbance in the Earth’s magnetosphere caused by solar winds that affect the Earth’s magnetic field. They are affiliated with solar flares and coronal mass ejections (News Staff). The solar flares produce high energy particles and radiation that affect living organisms negatively (Holman). When there is a geomagnetic storm, the region around the Earth controlling the magnetic field, called the magnetosphere, forms a shield to protect the Earth from the storm, but a strong gust of solar wind can compress the region causing a geomagnetic storm (News Staff). How does geomagnetic storms affect technology? Geomagnetic storms negatively affect the performance of equipment such as radio communication, radars, radio navigation systems, and orbiting satellites (Novosti). High energy particles from solar winds flowing through space can damage high orbiting satellites and cause power outages over a large region. One of the best known cases where this phenomenon occurred was in Quebec in 1989. An immense amount of moving electrons in the region controlling the magnetic field caused currents to flow into power lines which blew out electricity from the transformers and power stations (Holman).

Geomagnetic storms can affect humans by endangering living organisms. Their blood flow, blood pressure, and adrenaline can be altered by these storms (Novosti). The energy particles from the geomagnetic storm can also damage the human DNA (NASA). Combining the effects that geomagnetic storms have on technology and humans leads to why it can prevent human space exploration. With satellites, radio equipment, and humans being affected by the geomagnetic storms, humans will be in trouble when they travel through space. The radio equipment can be affected by the storm which cuts off communication between the astronaut and the humans on Earth. The geomagnetic storm can increase the density and energy particles in the radiation belts which increases the chance of the astronaut being hit by a damaging particle (NASA). These negative effects on the human body and technology restrains us from using humans for space exploration. Overall, geomagnetic storms negatively affect technology and human which prevents human space exploration.

Another phenomenon that is associated with space weather is the Van Allen radiation belts. The Van Allen radiation belts surrounds the Earth and have a nearly impenetrable barrier that prevents electrons from reaching the Earth (Fox). These belts are a collection of charged particles that have been radiated from the sun. As these particles flow towards the Earth, the Earth’s magnetic field gathers them around the Earth. This causes a problem with human space travel since the radiation belts are gathered around the Earth. A lot of exposure to radiation causes health issues and eventually death. No astronauts have died passing through it even though the Van Allen radiation belts can cause radiation (Teitel). The Van Allen radiation belts are similar to the geomagnetic storms because it's composed of charged particles around the Earth which can have serious effects on satellite operations (NASA). The radiation effects of the Van Allen belts is grouped into three categories: total ionizing dose, displacement damage, and single event effects (NASA). Total ionizing dose damages electronics because it builds up over a long period of time (SET). After a long period of total ionization the device will fail completely. Displacement damage is similar to a total ionization dose except it occurs in the device’s semiconductor material (SET). Electronics will start to deteriorate and fail when it is exposed enough to radiation. Single event effects can be either destructive or nondestructive to the device (SET). The way single event works is that a single particle goes through a sensitive region of an electronic device. If the severity of the effect is small, the device will not be destroyed. Otherwise if it is extreme it can cause the device to shut down (SET). Overall, the Van Allen radiation belt is similar to the geomagnetic storm in that it negatively affects the human body and destroys technology. These belts halted human space exploration in the same ways the geomagnetic storm does.

The next phenomenon is ionospheric disturbance. This phenomenon differs from the first two because ionospheric disturbance is not caused by charged particles. It is caused by solar flares that generate ultraviolet and x-ray waves. The energy released by the solar flare travels towards Earth and interacts with the ionosphere to create an ionospheric disturbance (BA). Ionospheric disturbance affects technology in a positive way. With the ultraviolet and x-ray waves in the ionosphere, we can monitor and track the disturbances. Combining an antenna and a receiver allows us to create the sudden ionospheric disturbance monitor which lets us monitor signals (SSC). These radio signals are reflected, refracted, or diffracted in the ionosphere (Poole). These signals being manipulated in the ionosphere is what allows us to use radio communication on Earth and with space travelers. There is another positive aspect of ionospheric disturbance, specifically towards humans and the planet Earth. This aspect is that the electrically charged particles in the ionosphere causes anomalies between satellites and ground receivers (Gray). The increase of charged particles in the ionosphere allows us to detect an earthquake before it occurs (Gray). Being able to detect an earthquake early indirectly helps humans by notifying earthquakes early which allows them time to prepare for the devastation the earthquake will cause. An example of an earthquake being detected early is the magnitude-7 earthquake at Haiti’s capital on January 12, 2010. There were satellite records of electron activity near the island that revealed unusual pattern in the ionosphere months before the earthquake happened (Morton). Overall, ionospheric disturbance from ultraviolet and x-ray waves in the ionosphere allows humans to communicate via radio and detect earthquakes early. It positively helps the Earth and humans. Likewise, it also positively affects human space exploration.

Scintillation of satellite-to-ground radio signals is another phenomenon related to space weather.

In basic terms, this is a flash of radio signals from the orbiting satellite to the ground station. The satellite and radio signals are affected by space weather. The effects of space weather on satellite communication can be put into three categories: effects on the satellite, effects on the station, and effects on the signal propagating through the Earth’s atmosphere (Kennewell). Space weather affecting the satellite depends on where the satellite is orbiting. Earlier it was mentioned that geomagnetic storms negatively affect high orbiting satellites. These satellites are vulnerable to highly charged particles that are emitted from the sun (Kennewell). Effects such as upsetting memory, dielectric charging, and radiation damage to components of the satellite. These effects can create glitches in the satellite, degrade the satellite, and in extreme cases it can destroy the satellite (Kennewell). On the other hand, low orbiting satellites do not have these effects. They are less susceptible to the charged particles damage. Although this is the case, the low orbiting satellites suffer decay when solar activity is increased (Kennewell). These are the space weather effects on the satellite. The ground station is also affected by the solar winds. The goal of the ground station is receive signals from the satellite and transmit commands and communications to the satellite

(Kennewell). During the space weather, the receiving antenna at the ground station is affected by sky noise and solar noise. This effect depends on the frequency of the operation (Kennewell). The noise interferes with signals being received by the ground station. Finally, the space weather can affect the signals when they propagate through the Earth’s atmosphere. The signal traveling from the satellite to the ground station can be affected when it passes through the ionosphere or when it passes the troposphere (Kennewell). Different effects occur depending on the frequency of the signal. These effects are signal absorption, scintillation, Faraday rotation, and bandwidth decoherence. The geographic location can also affect the signal (Kennewell). All of these effects are disadvantages towards satellites. Scintillation of satellite-to-ground radio signals affects human space exploration because without communication between the Earth and the astronauts, the mission will not go well. It affects technology because it disrupts radio signals between the ground station and the satellite.

To finalize this paper, space weather is a natural process that affects the Earth, humans, technology and human space exploration in many ways.

Space phenomenon such as geomagnetic storms which affect the Earth’s magnetosphere can destroy satellites. Destroyed satellites prevent communication with prevents human space exploration. Flying through the geomagnetic storm can affect human organs negatively. This phenomenon ties in with the Van Allen radiation belts. These belts are formed from the Earth’s magnetic field. It gathers the charged particles coming from the sun’s radiation. It can destroy technology flying past it. This connects to the scintillation of satellite-to-ground radio signals because the charged particles disrupt the radio signals going towards the Earth. Finally the ionospheric disturbances positively affect human space exploration because it allows us to use radio communication. The ultraviolet and x-ray waves radiating from the sun hits the ionosphere which allows us to communicate with the radio

waves.