After a 1 million mile trek since its launch in February, the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) will turn to the sun and play "bodyguard" for Earth's magnetic field. While DSCOVR can't stop solar flares from happening, it can provide warnings when a solar ejection poses a danger to Earth's power grid, global positioning systems and communications networks.
Howard Singer, chief scientist at the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo. compares the satellite to a warning buoy in the ocean. "It is probably one of the most important links in the chain," Singer told Bloomberg. "If you don't have the input, you cannot run the model that is going to tell you about the activity."
In 1859, the Carrington Event caused telegraph systems to fail in North America and Europe. In today's age of reliance on technology, a disturbance of the same magnitude could cost $2 trillion in the first year of recovery and take four to 10 years to fully recover, according to the National Research Council.
DSCOVR is undergoing month-long instrument checks, but once they are done, the satellite will be able to give Earth 30 to 60 minutes notice. Hundreds of solar eruptions and plasma ejections occur each year and the majority of them don't come near the Earth, but when one does, we will hopefully be ready.
"We won't be able to say what is happening in New York City, but we can say what is happening on the East Coast," Singer told Bloomberg.
