Sam thinks about who will use our new space ports – and how satellites are likely to take centre stage. Sam, Stats and Quark take a trip to see one of the busiest satellites in the sky – the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Taking readings across a wide variety of wavelengths, it helps get the full picture of activity around the sun. Outside the protective magnetosphere, there’s nothing between humans and the powerful radiation from the solar winds. Sam, Stats and Quark find out how it isn’t just astronauts who are at risk – even aircraft passengers can be affected. Sam, Stats and Quark are exploring some of the projects through which scientists measure and investigate solar activity. One project is the European Space Agency’s Cluster Mission. Sam, Stats and Quark are finding out about SPACESTORM – a way to predict the effect of space weather on satellites – and take a trip to the far side of the Sun to see STEREO. Sam, Stats and Quark are finding out what space weather is all about. And find that like the weather on Earth, it changes all the time – although sometimes slightly more dramatically. Sam, Stats and Quark are finding out about different types of space weather – from magnetic storms to cosmic rays, solar wind and coronal mass ejections. There’s a lot going on up there! Sam, Stats and Quark are learning how space weather can affect life on Earth and the atmosphere around it. But how do we measure space weather? And how can we know what to expect?