A “cannibalistic” solar storm has just blocked the launch of a rocket to Mars

We know the terrestrial vagaries that regularly disrupt space launches. But seeing the Sun itself play spoilsport remains exceptional. However, this is what has just happened with the ESCAPADE missionNASA’s first mission to Mars in five years.

Blue Origin had scheduled takeoff for Wednesday from Cape Canaveralin Florida, after a first postponement on Sunday for classic weather reasons. But the company finally announced that, despite the availability of its rocket, it preferred to procrastinate “as a precaution, due to extremely high solar activity and its potential effects on ESCAPADE machines”. The launch is now waiting for space conditions to calm down, which could take several days.

Two coronal mass ejections colliding

This disturbance comes from exceptional solar activity: not one, but two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) directed towards the Earth. These phenomena project immense amounts of burning plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun’s outer atmosphere. The second, faster eruption overtook the first, considerably intensifying the effects. An event that specialists describe as a solar storm “cannibal”.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued an alert level G4, meaning a severe geomagnetic storm. Of the Spectacular northern lights descended all the way to Alabamaan extremely rare phenomenon at this latitude. These celestial manifestations are accompanied by tangible risks: threatened communications satellites, weakened electrical networks, disrupted navigation systems, etc.

Already three years ago, around forty newly launched Starlink satellites burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere, victims of increased atmospheric drag during a similar storm. The caution of Blue Origin and NASA therefore appears fully justified.

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