Solar storm warning system to be put in place with new UK satellite

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The UK is set to build Europe’s first operational satellite designed to spot solar storms and other potentially dangerous space weather. The satellite will give vital extra warning about incoming solar storms and coronal mass ejections which can potentially disrupt satellites in orbit and electronic and power distribution systems on Earth, as well as cause northern lights and auroras to appear. So the idea is to get better predictive capability and to also do some, what they call, nowcasting.” open image in gallery This image provided by Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows a solar flare spewing from the right side of the Sun Vigil will be positioned at Lagrange point L5 on the same orbit as the Earth, 93 million miles behind the planet as it orbits the Sun. “Vigil is one of the most exciting and important space missions that will not only improve our understanding of the Sun’s behaviour but crucially provide us with earlier warning and greater precision about potentially damaging solar weather,” said Patrick Wood, head of Space Systems UK at Airbus Defence and Space.