[ti:Satellite Will Watch Sun Storms, Send Warnings to Earth]
[ar:Marsha James]
[al:Science In The News]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]A new satellite is travelling 1.5 million kilometers 
[00:05.24]over a 110-day period to enter an orbit of the sun. 
[00:11.02]It is called DSCOVR -- the Deep Space Climate Observatory. 
[00:17.50]It will replace a satellite that has been observing space weather.
[00:23.08]DSCOVR will begin its work 
[00:26.17]during the worst of the 11-year-long solar cycle. 
[00:30.45]This is a time when extreme weather on the sun 
[00:34.88]can have the greatest effect on planet Earth.
[00:38.83]DSCOVR will gather information 
[00:41.88]about a continuing flow of particles from the sun. 
[00:45.96]We are protected from these particles 
[00:49.41]by the Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere. 
[00:53.20]But we are not fully protected from 
[00:56.90]what scientists call Coronal Mass Ejections. 
[01:01.13]These are strong storms that can happen on the sun's surface.
[01:06.88]Thomas Berger is the director of the Space Weather Prediction Center 
[01:12.71]at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. 
[01:18.20]He says these ejections are much more dangerous than solar particles. 
[01:24.27]He says the Coronal Mass Ejections are extremely large magnetic clouds 
[01:30.76]that are expelled from the sun at extremely high speeds. 
[01:35.44]He says when they impact Earth, 
[01:38.82]it is like a hurricane impacting Earth in terms of space weather.
[01:44.51]Violent space weather can make electric systems stop working. 
[01:50.35]It can block satellite signals to Earth. 
[01:53.68]It can interfere with radio signals and air travel.
[01:58.21]Mr. Berger says we cannot stop the ejections from affecting us, 
[02:04.04]but we can prepare for them if we know when they will happen. 
[02:09.08]When the DSCOVR satellite records an ejection, 
[02:14.03]it will release a warning. 
[02:16.32]Mr. Berger says the warning will provide NOAA 
[02:21.11]about 15 to 60 minutes to let people know 
[02:25.39]that a very strong storm is coming in to the Earth. 
[02:30.14]He says that is enough time for power grid operators 
[02:35.66]to take protective action. 
[02:37.86]He says it is also enough time for workers 
[02:42.04]to place satellites on a safe operating method if necessary.
[02:47.14]Mr. Berger says scientists would like even more time, of course. 
[02:53.16]He says researchers are developing instruments 
[02:57.63]that will give an earlier warning.
[03:00.16]The warnings from DSCOVR will be for the whole planet. 
[03:04.67]But Mr. Berger says a new system 
[03:08.60]may be able to give more-targeted warnings. 
[03:11.59]He says future models will be able to tell exactly 
[03:16.82]what part of the world will be more at risk from a solar storm.
[03:21.60]That means that, for the first time, 
[03:25.15]humans will get both a warning 
[03:28.04]that a magnetic storm is heading towards Earth 
[03:31.49]and information about where it is likely to hit.
[03:36.15]I'm Marsha James.
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