Space Weather
NASA resisted for years, “weather” was NOAA’s job. We wore ‘em down.
Magnetic storms etc. are responsible for >$100M/year in insured losses.
- Power grids running at 99.9% capacity can’t handle the disruptions (1991)
- Communication satellites get fried (1997)
- DoD shortwave communications fail
- Astronauts (pilots!) could get nuked (1972!)
Can we predict any of these events?