The next Carrington Event would hit a very different world
The next Carrington Event would hit a very different world New calculations show a major solar storm could trigger cascading failures across GPS, communications, and navigation. A NASA image of a solar flare. As 2025 comes to a close, the conversation about collapse — when it might happen and what might be the trigger — seems to be heating up. Some say the “climate crisis” will push us over the edge. Others argue that supply chains, economics, and politics are bigger threats. You know who doesn’t care about these minuscule debates? The sun. A new scientific paper , which has yet to be peer-reviewed, suggests a major solar storm could disable Earth’s satellite infrastructure and push the globe into a major crisis in less than three days. That margin has narrowed dramatically in recent years, the researchers say. In 2018, when roughly 4,000 satellites occupied low-Earth orbit, operators would have had months to maneuver and prevent cascading collisions if they lost control. T...