When news happens, text BONEWS and your photos to 80360 or phone
01204 537274 Call for solar superstorm board A new quango is
needed to help Britain brace itself against a once-in-a-century
"solar superstorm", experts said. Setting up a UK Space Weather
Board is the key recommendation made to the Government in a
report from the Royal Academy of Engineering. The Board would
lead and supervise government strategy for coping with a massive
radiation blast from the Sun that could trigger black-outs,
knock out one in 10 satellites, and disrupt aircraft and
shipping navigation. Statistically, a solar superstorm is likely
to occur every one to 200 years. Although solar weather events
happen on a regular basis, the Earth has not experienced a
superstorm since the start of the space age. The last true
superstorm, known as the "Carrington event" occurred in 1859. On
that occasion, Earth was hit by a tidal wave of energetic
particles following a large solar flare. Induced currents caused
by the blast sent sparks flying