Solar flares

Request by: Professor Ponyarity

Space weather is a little different than on the ground, but it runs on the same basic principle-the distribution of energy. Solar flares happen when a star shoots out charged plasma into space with enough power to escape its gravity field. When they hit Earth the northern and southern lights go crazy, transformers explode, satellites fail, and communication networks get a good bit of static. Having experienced a few over the centuries, we have learned how to make things more resilient. Grounding electrical appliances is a great way of stopping a voltage over flow from damaging more than the immediate area involved. But spacecraft typically do not carry jars of dirt (que Captain Jack Sparrow) and spacecraft charging is a very real problem.

Here are a few solutions:

An effective power distribution unit would be able to not only manage the directed output from an electrical power source to 1st priority systems, but also to direct excess power to batteries for situations where the main power source is not usable or is down for services.

A 0V reference point would not be the same as plugging your device into the dirt (remember that third prong on your refrigerator’s plug?) but it does serve as an effective guideline to keep components from running themselves to burnout. For further reading look up single-point, multi-point and hybrid ground schemes.

And if all else fails, a extra output device could handle all the power the ship can’t. When we test our generators-we simulate the load of our equipment with a combination of heating coils and fans. So that in conjunction with all of the above-you have an outlet for what would otherwise cook the system.