- Scientists have warned of a new millennium
disaster - from outer space. They say electromagnetic space storms will
wipe out telephone lines and television signals, cripple aircraft navigation
systems and leave cities without power supplies.
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- Researchers say storms - which will reach
a peak early in 2000 - will also disable many of the 500 satellites that
orbit the Earth.
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- "We now have hundreds of billions
of dollars of equipment orbiting over our heads, and they will all be at
risk in the first few weeks of the millennium," said Nick Flowers,
of Britain's Mullard Space Laboratory.
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- This warning was backed last week by
the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Its forecasters
said that the sun is heading into the most violent part of its 11-year
cycle of activity - known as the solar maximum. This will peak in about
18 months' time. In 1989, during the last solar maximum, the sun blasted
out huge bursts of high-energy particles - coronal mass ejections. These
solar storms battered Earth's protective radiation belts.
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- The effects were particularly strong
in high latitudes and triggered powerful electric currents in telephone
and electrical equipment. In space, the storms fused equipment in satellites.
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- There are 250 communications satellites
in special high orbit over Earth. Hovering 23,000 miles above the ground,
they are particularly vulnerable to solar storms.
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- However, the greatest danger is likely
to be posed by a breakdown in the US Global Positioning System. This fleet
of satellites provides navigation and guidance for aircraft across the
world.
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- "A failure of this system could
have very serious consequences, even if it was only a temporary breakdown,"
said Flowers. "It won't cause aircraft to crash, but it could bring
havoc to traffic control."
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- However, of more immediate concern is
the Leonid meteor shower, which will hit Earth on 17 November. Meteors
pose no risk to humans but could cause serious damage in space, where satellites
face a one-in-500 chance of being destroyed by a meteor.
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