Old Rocks
Diamond Member
The executive order signed by President Obama has good reason behind it.
Obama expands his executive power beyond Earth
WASHINGTON — President Obama has expanded his use of executive power beyond bounds of earth, signing an executive order Thursday to prepare the federal government to deal with the effects of space weather events.
That space weather — which includes phenomena like solar flares, geomagnetic disturbances — can have big effects on everyday technologies like global positioning systems, satellite communication and aviation.
And if the weather is extreme enough, Obama said, it "has the potential to simultaneously affect and disrupt health and safety across entire continents." Solar winds could disable the electrical power grid, resulting in "cascading failures" that would affect almost every area of modern life — including basic health and safety issues like the water supply.
The executive order came as Obama prepared to travel to Pittsburgh for a technology conference focusing on artificial intelligence, space exploration, clean energy and precision medicine.
Like many executive orders, Obama's directive instructs executive branch agencies on their responsibilities in preparing and responding to space weather events. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will coordinate the efforts of agencies across the government, including Defense, Commerce, Energy and NASA, which will work together to improve their ability to forecast space weather events and protect critical infrastructure from their effects.
Here is the reason, the Carrington Event
Bright Flare, Dark Lines
Compared to today’s information superhighway, the telegraph system in 1859 may have been a mere dirt road, but the “Victorian Internet” was also a critical means of transmitting news, sending private messages and engaging in commerce. Telegraph operators in the United States had observed local interruptions due to thunderstorms and northern lights before, but they never experienced a global disturbance like the one-two punch they received in the waning days of summer in 1859.
Many telegraph lines across North America were rendered inoperable on the night of August 28 as the first of two successive solar storms struck. E.W. Culgan, a telegraph manager in Pittsburgh, reported that the resulting currents flowing through the wires were so powerful that platinum contacts were in danger of melting and “streams of fire” were pouring forth from the circuits. In Washington, D.C., telegraph operator Frederick W. Royce was severely shocked as his forehead grazed a ground wire. According to a witness, an arc of fire jumped from Royce’s head to the telegraphic equipment. Some telegraph stations that used chemicals to mark sheets reported that powerful surges caused telegraph paper to combust.
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Ice core samples have determined that the Carrington Event was twice as big as any other solar storm in the last 500 years. What would be the impact of a similar storm today? According to a 2008 report from the National Academy of Sciences, it could cause “extensive social and economic disruptions” due to its impact on power grids, satellite communications and GPS systems. The potential price tag? Between $1 trillion and $2 trillion.
What the President is trying to do is create a consortium of corporate and government partnerships to find ways to reduce the damage by measures in place in case we were to get another such storm.
Obama expands his executive power beyond Earth
WASHINGTON — President Obama has expanded his use of executive power beyond bounds of earth, signing an executive order Thursday to prepare the federal government to deal with the effects of space weather events.
That space weather — which includes phenomena like solar flares, geomagnetic disturbances — can have big effects on everyday technologies like global positioning systems, satellite communication and aviation.
And if the weather is extreme enough, Obama said, it "has the potential to simultaneously affect and disrupt health and safety across entire continents." Solar winds could disable the electrical power grid, resulting in "cascading failures" that would affect almost every area of modern life — including basic health and safety issues like the water supply.
The executive order came as Obama prepared to travel to Pittsburgh for a technology conference focusing on artificial intelligence, space exploration, clean energy and precision medicine.
Like many executive orders, Obama's directive instructs executive branch agencies on their responsibilities in preparing and responding to space weather events. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will coordinate the efforts of agencies across the government, including Defense, Commerce, Energy and NASA, which will work together to improve their ability to forecast space weather events and protect critical infrastructure from their effects.
Here is the reason, the Carrington Event
Bright Flare, Dark Lines
Compared to today’s information superhighway, the telegraph system in 1859 may have been a mere dirt road, but the “Victorian Internet” was also a critical means of transmitting news, sending private messages and engaging in commerce. Telegraph operators in the United States had observed local interruptions due to thunderstorms and northern lights before, but they never experienced a global disturbance like the one-two punch they received in the waning days of summer in 1859.
Many telegraph lines across North America were rendered inoperable on the night of August 28 as the first of two successive solar storms struck. E.W. Culgan, a telegraph manager in Pittsburgh, reported that the resulting currents flowing through the wires were so powerful that platinum contacts were in danger of melting and “streams of fire” were pouring forth from the circuits. In Washington, D.C., telegraph operator Frederick W. Royce was severely shocked as his forehead grazed a ground wire. According to a witness, an arc of fire jumped from Royce’s head to the telegraphic equipment. Some telegraph stations that used chemicals to mark sheets reported that powerful surges caused telegraph paper to combust.
.....................................................................................................................................................
Ice core samples have determined that the Carrington Event was twice as big as any other solar storm in the last 500 years. What would be the impact of a similar storm today? According to a 2008 report from the National Academy of Sciences, it could cause “extensive social and economic disruptions” due to its impact on power grids, satellite communications and GPS systems. The potential price tag? Between $1 trillion and $2 trillion.
What the President is trying to do is create a consortium of corporate and government partnerships to find ways to reduce the damage by measures in place in case we were to get another such storm.
