---
title: "Incoming Solar Storm Season May Totally Screw Up Satellites, Government Scientist Warns"
description: "An incoming solar storm cycle is going to make things much worse for the increasing number of satellites that are going up."
date: "2022-08-11"
modified: "2022-08-11"
authors:
  - name: "Noor Al-Sibai"
    job_title: "Senior Staff Writer"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/solar-storm-season-satellite-issues-noaa"
categories:
  - "Energy"
  - "Off-World"
  - "Renewable Energy"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "Solar Power"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "geomagnetic storm"
  - "satellites"
  - "solar storms"
  - "the digest"
---

# Incoming Solar Storm Season May Totally Screw Up Satellites, Government Scientist Warns

![An incoming solar storm cycle is going to make things much worse for the increasing number of satellites that are going up.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/solar-storm-season-satellite-issues-noaa.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Getty Images\</em\>*

## Stormy Weather

Things are about to get stormy with our Sun — and it could spell trouble for satellite infrastructure.

"Whatever you’ve experienced in the past two years doesn’t matter," space weather expert Tzu-Wei Fang of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association told crowds at the 36th Small Satellite Conference in Utah this week, [per *SpaceNews*](<https://spacenews.com/increased-solar-activity-creates-new-challenges-for-smallsats/>). "Whatever you learned the past two years is not going to apply in the next five years."

As Fang told the audience during the panel discussion, the February solar storm that [killed off a bunch](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/geomagnetic-storm-spacex-satellites>) of then-newly-launched SpaceX Starlink satellites was just the tip of the iceberg.

"That storm was actually a minor storm in our catalog," she told the conference. "It’s not a huge storm."

## First Data

These kinds of storms and their effects on satellites do have one upside, however — coordinating with NOAA and other organizations to study the effects of increased geomagnetic activity and better be able to predict what can go haywire, Fang said.

This kind of data coordination will be useful because, as the space scientist noted, this new solar storm cycle comes after an 11-year era that was comparatively quite mild, and in which tons more satellites were launched than ever before. As such, current satellite technicians may not be prepared for the coming storms.

What's worse, this latest cycle is already trending way higher than predicted.

"If you look at the beginning of this year, things are very crazy. We’ve had a solar flare almost every week," Fang said at the panel. "We’re already way beyond where we predicted at this point."

It's a scary predicament, in other words, but we're not quite in "The Day After Tomorrow" territory quite yet.

All the same, however, those who operate satellites are soon going to get a crash course in how to handle solar storms.

**READ MORE:** [Increased solar activity creates new challenges for smallsats](<https://spacenews.com/increased-solar-activity-creates-new-challenges-for-smallsats/>) \[*SpaceNews*\]

**More satellite stuff:** *[Russian Space Junk "Squalls" Are Really Gumming Up The Works For SpaceX](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/russian-space-junk-squalls-starlink>)*

## Author
At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/noorfromfuturism.bsky.social>)