Huynh Chieu Dang
Thưa quí anh chị,
Bản tóm tắt tiếng Việt có khi đi xa hơn những ǵ Dr
Fisher và Dr Liam Fox nói, mời quí anh chị đọc hại bản tiếng anh nầy để
thấy sự thật về chuyện âu Châu chết ngắt vào năm 2013.
HCD
Nasa warns solar flares from 'huge space storm' will
cause devastation
Britain could face widespread power blackouts and be left
without critical communication signals for long periods of time, after
the earth is hit by a once-in-a-generation “space storm”, Nasa has
warned.
By Andrew Hough
Published: 1:00PM BST 14 Jun 2010
Dr Fisher, head of NASA's Heliophysics Division, has been
a scientist at the space agency for 20 years. Photo: NASA
National power grids could overheat and air travel
severely disrupted while electronic items, navigation devices and major
satellites could stop working after the Sun reaches its maximum power
in a few years.
Senior space agency scientists believe the Earth will be
hit with unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares
after the Sun wakes “from a deep slumber” sometime around 2013, The
Daily Telegraph can disclose.
In a new warning, Nasa said the super storm would hit
like “a bolt of lightning” and could cause catastrophic consequences
for the world’s health, emergency services and national security unless
precautions are taken.
Scientists believe it could damage everything from
emergency services’ systems, hospital equipment, banking systems and
air traffic control devices, through to “everyday” items such as home
computers, iPods and Sat Navs.
Due to humans’ heavy reliance on electronic devices,
which are sensitive to magnetic energy, the storm could leave a
multi-billion pound damage bill and “potentially devastating” problems
for governments.
“We know it is coming but we don’t know how bad it is
going to be,” Dr Richard Fisher, the director of Nasa's Heliophysics
division, said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.
“It will disrupt communication devices such as satellites
and car navigations, air travel, the banking system, our computers,
everything that is electronic. It will cause major problems for the
world.
“Large areas will be without electricity power and to
repair that damage will be hard as that takes time.”
Dr Fisher added: “Systems will just not work. The flares
change the magnetic field on the earth that is rapid and like a
lightning bolt. That is the solar affect.”
A “space weather” conference in Washington DC last week,
attended by Nasa scientists, policy-makers, researchers and government
officials, was told of similar warnings.
While scientists have previously told of the dangers of
the storm, Dr Fisher’s comments are the most comprehensive warnings
from Nasa to date.
Dr Fisher, 69, said the storm, which will cause the Sun
to reach temperatures of more than 10,000 F (5500C), occurred only a
few times over a person’s life.
Every 22 years the Sun’s magnetic energy cycle peaks
while the number of sun spots – or flares – hits a maximum level every
11 years.
Dr Fisher, a Nasa scientist for 20 years, said these two
events would combine in 2013 to produce huge levels of radiation.
He said large swathes of the world could face being
without power for several months, although he admitted that was
unlikely.
A more likely scenario was that large areas, including
northern Europe and Britain which have “fragile” power grids, would be
without power and access to electronic devices for hours, possibly even
days.
He said preparations were similar to those in a hurricane
season, where authorities knew a problem was imminent but did not know
how serious it would be.
“I think the issue is now that modern society is so
dependant on electronics, mobile phones and satellites, much more so
than the last time this occurred,” he said.
“There is a severe economic impact from this. We take it
very seriously. The economic impact could be like a large, major
hurricane or storm.”
The National Academy of Sciences warned two years ago
that power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and
emergency radio communications could “all be knocked out by intense
solar activity”.
It warned a powerful solar storm could cause “twenty
times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina”. That storm
devastated New Orleans in 2005 and left an estimated damage bill of
more than $125bn (£85bn).
Dr Fisher said precautions could be taken including
creating back up systems for hospitals and power grids and allow
development on satellite “safe modes”.
“If you know that a hazard is coming … and you have time
enough to prepare and take precautions, then you can avoid trouble,” he
added.
His division, a department of the Science Mission
Directorate at Nasa headquarters in Washington DC, which investigates
the Sun’s influence on the earth, uses dozens of satellites to study
the threat.
The government has said it was aware of the threat and
“contingency plans were in place” to cope with the fall out from such a
storm.
These included allowing for certain transformers at the
edge of the National Grid to be temporarily switched off and to improve
voltage levels throughout the network.
The National Risk Register, established in 2008 to
identify different dangers to Britain, also has “comprehensive” plans
on how to handle a complete outage of electricity supplies.

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Liam Fox forecasts new threat to vital services - solar
flares
Published Date: 21 September 2010
By ALASTAIR DALTON
SOLAR flares bombarding the Earth with huge pulses of
energy could cause chaos by knocking out electricity networks and
satellites, the Defence Secretary warned yesterday.
Liam Fox said the UK government was working with
businesses and space experts to "build collective resilience" against
the threat.
Dr Fox's comments at a conference in London on infrastructure security
follows the United States space agency, Nasa,
predicting a new wave of solar activity would peak in
about three years' time.
He said: "Much of our critical national infrastructure depends on data
and services delivered from, or through satellites, whose sensitive
electronics are vulnerable to some of the radiation emitted by the Sun.
"Satellite operators recognise the effects of space weather, and the
aviation industry has long been aware of the risk of exposing
passengers to harmful levels of radiation at high altitude during
severe solar events.
"However, effects on terrestrial infrastructure may be less obvious to
service providers, such as the disruption to power networks, transport,
telephone lines and essential services to our homes, businesses and
government offices."
Dr Fox said the government would help efforts to improve the
forecasting of such "space weather" and develop protective measures.
He said: "We are bringing together industry, academics, government and
regulators in a collaborative approach to build collective resilience."
The Defence Secretary also warned that rogue states could detonate
nuclear weapons in space to hit electricity and communications networks
with a similar electro-magnetic pulse.
Solar flares are caused by explosions in the Sun's magnetic field,
whose energy takes several days to reach Earth, 93 million miles away.
Current mitigation measures include disconnecting power lines or
cutting transmission levels, moving high-flying military aircraft to
lower altitudes and astronauts to safe areas. However, predicting their
scale and timing is very difficult.
Professor John Brown, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, said: "Dr
Fox's summary of the advice he has received is essentially correct.
"The risk of it happening is small, and probably far less than the risk
of rogue attacks, most likely on software like power grid controls than
by the vastly more difficult nuclear explosion in space.
"However, a solar incident could happen and be much more widespread,
and there is no doubt our communications, food chains and medical care
are fragile as well as sophisticated."
However, Eric Priest, the Gregory professor of mathematics at St
Andrews University, predicted the next peak in solar activity would be
lower than average.
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