Astronauts aboard the International Space Station were forced to alter their routine sleeping positions due to the threat posed by solar particles from an extreme “cannibal” storm, an update from the orbiting outpost reveals.
Out of caution, the three Russian cosmonauts aboard the space station were instructed to spend the night in the ISS laboratory module, according to a recent communication between Nasa mission control and the crew.
"We entered into an energetic solar particle event this morning, and we're going to go in and out of holes of higher than the baseline [radiation] risk," a mission control operator told astronaut Mike Fincke aboard the ISS, according to Space.com.
The British Geological Survey had earlier warned that a series of solar storms released from the Sun this week could feed off another one, creating one of the biggest “cannibal storms” since 2005.
Such powerful storms are caused by an explosion of energy, particles, magnetic fields, and solar materials blasted into space by the Sun, which could interfere with satellites and the Earth’s magnetic field and disrupt navigation and energy infrastructure.
The strong solar storms triggered radio blackouts in Africa and parts of Europe, and also delayed the launch of Blue Origin's big New Glenn rocket.
High-energy particles in the solar storm also consist of radioactive ions, which can harm astronauts in orbit.
While the ISS has defences against radiation from such solar storms, the Russian crew members Oleg Platonov, Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky were asked to alter their sleeping positions.
"The USOS crew slept in their crew quarters and the Roscosmos cosmonauts camped out in the lab as a preventative measure due to the solar storm," a Nasa official told Space.com.
This could be due to the ageing infrastructure of a core part of the Russian segment, the Zvezda module, previously found to have a persistent air leak.
The leak is increasing over the years, but astronauts assert some of the key areas have been sealed and that there is no immediate danger to the crew.
Such leaks highlight the risk posed by wear, micro-cracks, and even micrometeoroid damage to the ISS.
Meanwhile, stargazers reported dazzling northern and southern lights across Europe, North America, and Australia this week.
The powerful solar storm comes in the middle of the Sun’s most active phase in its 11-year activity cycle, known as the solar maximum, which is expected to last at least through the end of this year.
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