A recent batch of SpaceX’s Starlink internet-beaming cubesats met with tragedy on February 3rd when a 49-member cohort of the newly-launched satellites encountered a strong geomagnetic storm in orbit.

“These storms cause the atmosphere to warm and atmospheric density at our low deployment altitudes to increase. In fact, onboard GPS suggests the escalation speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50 percent higher than during previous launches,” SpaceX wrote in a blog update last Wednesday. “The Starlink team commanded the satellites into a safe-mode where they would fly edge-on (like a sheet of paper) to minimize drag.” Unfortunately, 40 of the satellites never came out of safe mode and, as of Wednesday’s announcement, are expected to, if they haven’t already, fall to their doom in Earth’s atmosphere.

While this incident constitutes is only a minor setback for SpaceX and its goal of entombing the planet with more than 42,000 of the signal-bouncing devices, geomagnetic storms pose an ongoing threat to the world’s electrical infrastructure — interrupting broadcast and telecommunications signals, damaging electrical grids, disrupting global navigation systems, while exposing astronauts and airline passengers alike with dangerous doses of solar radiation.

The NOAA defines geomagnetic storms as “a major disturbance of Earth's magnetosphere that occurs when there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding Earth.” Solar winds, composed of plasma and high-energy particles, are ejected from the Sun’s outermost coronal layers and carry the same charge as the sun’s magnetic field, oriented either North or South.

When that charged solar wind hits Earth’s magnetosphere — moreso if it is especially energetic or carries a southern polarization — it can cause magnetic reconnection of the dayside magnetopause. This, in turn, accelerates plasma in that region down the atmosphere’s magnetic field lines towards the planet’s poles where the added energy excites nitrogen and oxygen atoms to generate the Northern Lights aurora effect. That extra energy also causes the magnetosphere itself to oscillate, creating electrical currents which further disrupt the region’s magnetic fields — all of which make up magnetic storms.

“Storms also result in intense currents in the magnetosphere, changes in the radiation belts, and changes in the ionosphere, including heating the ionosphere and upper atmosphere region called the thermosphere,” notes the NOAA. “In space, a ring of westward current around Earth produces magnetic disturbances on the ground.”

Basically, when the Sun belches out a massive blast of solar wind, it travels through space and smacks into the Earth’s magnetic shell where all that energy infuses into the planet’s magnetic field, causing electrical chaos while making a bunch of atoms in the upper reaches of the atmosphere jiggle in just the right way to create a light show. Behold, the majesty of our cosmos, the celestial equivalent of waving away a wet burp from the slob next to you at the bar.

Solar flares occur with varying frequency depending on where the Sun is in its 11-year solar cycle with fewer than one happening each week during solar minimums to multiple flares daily during the maximal period. Their intensities oscillate similarly, though if the electromagnetic storm of 1859 — the largest such event on record, dubbed the Carrington Event — were to occur today, its damage to Earth’s satellite and telecom systems is estimated to run in the trillions of US dollars, requiring months if not years of repairs to undo. The event pushed the Northern aurora borealis as far south as the Caribbean and energized telegraph lines to the point of combustion. A similar storm in March of 1989 was only as third as powerful as Carrington but it still managed to straight up melt an electrical transformer in New Jersey as well as knock out Quebec’s power grid in a matter of seconds, stranding 6 million customers in the dark for nine hours until the system’s equipment could be sequentially checked and reset.

European Space Agency

Even when they’re not electrocuting telegraph operators or demolishing power grids, geomagnetic storms can cause all sorts of havoc with our electrical systems. Geomagnetically induced currents can saturate the magnetic cores within power transformers, causing the voltage and currents traveling within their coils to spike leading to overloads. Changes within the structure and density of the Earth’s ionosphere due to solar storms can disrupt and outright block high frequency radio and ultra-high frequency satellite transmissions. GPS navigation systems are similarly susceptible to disruption during these events.

"A worst-case solar storm could have an economic impact similar to a category 5 hurricane or a tsunami," Dr. Sten Odenwald of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in 2017. "There are more than 900 working satellites with an estimated replacement value of $170 billion to $230 billion, supporting a $90 billion-per-year industry. One scenario showed a 'superstorm' costing as much as $70 billion due to a combination of lost satellites, service loss, and profit loss."

Most importantly to SpaceX, solar storms can increase the amount of drag the upper edges of the atmosphere exert upon passing spacecraft. There isn’t much atmosphere in low Earth orbit where the ISS and a majority of satellites reside but there is enough to cause a noticeable amount of drag on passing objects. This drag increases during daylight hours as the Sun’s energy excites atoms in lower regions of the atmosphere pushing them higher into LEO and creating a higher-density layer that satellites have to push through. Geomagnetic storms can exacerbate this effect by producing large short-term increases in the upper atmosphere’s temperature and density.

NOAA

“There are only two natural disasters that could impact the entire US,” University of Michigan researcher, Gabor Toth, said in a press statement last August. “One is a pandemic. And the other is an extreme space weather event.”

"We have all these technological assets that are at risk," he continued. "If an extreme event like the one in 1859 happened again, it would completely destroy the power grid and satellite and communications systems — the stakes are much higher."

Austin Brenner, University of Michigan

In order to extend the time between a solar eruption and its resulting winds slamming into our magnetosphere, Toth and his team have worked to develop the Geospace Model version 2.0 (which is what the NOAA currently employs) using state-of-the-art computer learning systems and statistical analysis schemes. With it, astronomers and power grid operators are afforded a scant 30 minutes of advanced warning before solar winds reach the planet — just enough time to put vital electrical systems into standby mode or otherwise mitigate the storm’s impact.

Toth’s team relies on X-ray and UV data “from a satellite measuring plasma parameters one million miles away from the Earth,” he explained, in order to spot coronal mass ejections as they happen. “From that point, we can run a model and predict the arrival time and impact of magnetic events," Toth said.

NASA has developed and launched a number of missions in recent years to better predict the tumultuous behavior of our local star. In 2006, for example, the space agency launched the STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) mission in which a pair of observatories measured the “flow of energy and matter” from the Sun to Earth. Currently, NASA is working on two more missions — Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) and HelioSwarm — to more fully understand the Sun-Earth connection.

“MUSE and HelioSwarm will provide new and deeper insight into the solar atmosphere and space weather,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA, said in a February news release. “These missions not only extend the science of our other heliophysics missions—they also provide a unique perspective and a novel approach to understanding the mysteries of our star.”

MUSE aims to study the forces that heat the corona and drive eruptions in that solar layer. “MUSE will help us fill crucial gaps in knowledge pertaining to the Sun-Earth connection,” Nicola Fox, director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division, added. “It will provide more insight into space weather and complements a host of other missions within the heliophysics mission fleet.”

The HelioSwarm, on the other hand, is actually a collection of nine spacecraft tasked with taking “first multiscale in-space measurements of fluctuations in the magnetic field and motions of the solar wind.”

"The technical innovation of HelioSwarm's small satellites operating together as a constellation provides the unique ability to investigate turbulence and its evolution in the solar wind," Peg Luce, deputy director of the Heliophysics Division, said.

These ongoing research efforts to better comprehend our place in the solar system and how to be neighborly with the massive nuclear fusion reactor down the celestial block are sure to prove vital as humanity’s telecommunications technologies continue to mature. Because, no matter how hardened our systems, we simply cannot afford a repeat of 1859.

On Tuesday, the Biden administration established the country’s first-ever Buy Clean Task Force. The organization will work with federal agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Transportation, to source low-carbon construction materials from American factories. In part, it will do so by producing recommendations on incentives and technical assistance the federal government can provide to domestic manufacturers to better report and reduce their emissions. It will also help the government identify materials it should use as part of federally funded projects, and establish pilot programs to purchase those materials.

“Focusing on industry is a really big deal,” according to David Hart, a professor of public policy at George Mason University in Virginia. He told The New York Times the federal government had previously “neglected” to address greenhouse gas emissions produced by the “difficult and important” industrial sector. Part of the issue was that there was no single agency tasked with pushing companies that produce steel, aluminum, concrete and other important building materials to reduce their impact on the environment.

To that point, the US industrial sector is responsible for approximately one-third of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions. As the single largest consumer in the world, with an annual budget of approximately $650 billion to spend on goods and services, the federal government has a lot of buying power it can use to incentivize industrial players to change how they go about producing those essential materials.

With its landmark climate change legislation stuck in political gridlock, the Biden administration has turned to executive action to try and meet the president’s ambitious goal to cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. For instance, it recently announced new measures to clean up and harden the US power grid by investing money in transmission line upgrades and smart grid improvements. Those efforts have put forward meaningful climate policy, but the scale of the climate crisis demands support from all parts of the federal government, not just the executive branch.

The next PlayStation trophy you earn could provide more than just bragging rights. Sony has launched a "Play and Plant" program that will plant a tree when you earn a trophy in Horizon Forbidden West. Complete "Reached the Daunt" by March 25th and Sony will team with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant a tree as part of reforestation efforts in California, Florida and Wisconsin. You can save the real Earth while you save the virtual one, to put it another way.

The project won't please every environmentalist. Sony and the Arbor Day Foundation will halt donations when they reach the estimated 288,000 trees needed to complete the reforestation efforts. Given that Horizon Forbidden West is Sony's tentpole game for early 2022, the company could hit that milestone very quickly. Wouldn't it be kinder to the planet (and latecomers) to plant as many trees as possible?

Still, the plant-a-tree program represents a unique tie-in, and an experiment in pairing in-game achievements with real-world outcomes. You now have a material incentive to make progress. We wouldn't expect initiatives like this to become commonplace, but it's easy to see more of them in the future — if just to keep people engrossed in a game beyond its first few hours.

Uber users will eventually be able to pay for rides using cryptocurrency, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told Bloomberg. However, the company is essentially taking the same tack as Tesla by waiting for changes that will lower transaction fees and make it more environmentally friendly. 

"Is Uber going to accept crypto in the future? Absolutely, at some point," Khosrowshahi said. "As the exchange mechanism becomes less expensive, becomes more environmentally friendly, I think you will see us lean into crypto a little bit more." 

If Uber does jump onto the crypto train, it would be joining a number of firms that already accept Bitcoin, most notably Microsoft, AT&T and Wikipedia. Other major companies have been more reluctant, however, as cryptocurrencies along with related products like NFTs have been under fire for using massive amounts of energy generated in part by burning fossil fuels. 

Tesla was the highest-profile company to accept Bitcoin as payment for its EVs, but it suspended the practice, saying it would only use it again "as mining transitions to more sustainable energy." However, the company recently started accepting Dogecoin payments for some of its merch like the Cyberquad for Kids, with CEO Elon Musk tweeting that it's "better suited for transactions." 

The Biden administration has announced a $5 billion plan to help states build half a million EV charging stations by 2030 — five times the current number. The goal is to allow EV owners to find a charging port anywhere within 50 miles of their location across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. "It’s going to help ensure that America leads the world on electric vehicles," Biden said. 

The idea is to build on the "Alternative Fuel Corridor" created by 40 states along interstate highways across the country. To oversee the effort, the White House recently unveiled a new agency called the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. The $5 billion will come from the new National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, which will also distribute an additional $2.5 billion in discretionary grants later on. 

A total of $615 million will be distributed this year alone, with states having until August 1 to apply. The money can only be used for battery-electric vehicles only, not hydrogen or other alternative energy vehicles. States can team up with private enterprises to build and maintain the stations. 

Americans need to know that they can purchase an electric vehicle and find convenient charging stations when they are using Interstates and other major highways.

The aim with the charging network is to reassure potential EV buyers that they'll be able to charge their cars while travelling. "Americans need to know that they can purchase an electric vehicle and find convenient charging stations when they are using Interstates and other major highways," said Deputy Federal Highway Administrator Stephanie Pollack in a statement. 

The White House is also pushing for the charging stations to be built domestically. To that end, it touted a company called Tritium that plans to produce up to 30,000 DC fast chargers per year in Tennessee, creating 500 local jobs. The government will also direct 40 percent of funding to underserved and rural areas. The agency released a state-by-state disbursement plan that shows the largest funding levels going to Texas, California and Florida — the three most populous states.

It's all part of a larger plan to reduce US carbon emissions, as the transportation sector is responsible for a third of greenhouse gas pollution. To that end, the Biden administration wants half the vehicles sold in the US to be EVs or plug-in hybrids by 2030. 

The Biden administration is determined to eliminate combustion engine vehicles from federal fleets, and it's not thrilled that one agency might be holding it back. According to The Washington Post, the Environmental Protection Agency and White House Council on Environmental Quality have sent letters to the US Postal Service urging it to rethink a proposal to mostly buy gas-powered next-gen delivery trucks in a project worth up to $11.3 billion. The current strategy is a "lost opportunity" to more drastically reduce the carbon footprint of one of the world's largest government fleets, EPA associate policy administrator Vicki Arroyo wrote.

Only 10 percent of the USPS' new trucks would be electric under the existing proposal, and the overall effort would only improve the fleet's fuel economy by 0.4MPG. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy previously claimed the Postal Service couldn't afford more electric mail vehicles, and has argued his agency needs to focus on basic infrastructure improvements over technology. The USPS is required by law to be self-sufficient, and can't simply request government funds.

There may be an uphill battle to make any changes. DeJoy has staunchly refused to alter the purchasing plan, and the USPS rejected California officials' January 28th request for a public hearing on the plans. The service also largely ignored EPA advice when it created the analysis guiding its plan. The environmental regulator accused the USPS of using "biased" estimates that preferred gas-based trucks. The mail institution reportedly assumed battery and gas prices would remain static even decades later, and that the existing charging infrastructure wouldn't grow. It further overestimated the emissions from plug-in vehicles, according to the EPA.

The Postal Service might be forced to change regardless. The EPA has the option of referring its disagreements to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which can mediate disputes like this. The letters gave the USPS a last chance to voluntarily rethink its proposal before the Council stepped in, sources for The Post claimed. Environmental groups are also likely to sue if the gas-centric plan moves ahead, and the law firm Earthjustice told The Post the USPS might lose when its proposal often lacks supporting evidence. You may well see a transition toward mail-carrying EVs, even if the transition is particularly messy.

India is introducing a battery swapping policy as part of a push to boost EV sales, Reuters has reported. "Considering the constraint of space in urban areas for setting up charging stations at scale, a battery swapping policy will be brought out," said India's Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman. 

The idea is change out depleted batteries for freshly charged ones, potentially saving time compared to charging. You may have first heard about the idea when Tesla launched battery swapping stations in 2014, then quietly dropped the idea due to lack of use.

India plans to reduce "interoperability standards," presumably so that battery-swapping tech can be used between different EV makes and models. "The private sector will be encouraged to create sustainable and innovative business models for battery and energy as a service, improving the efficiency of the EV ecosystem," said Sitharaman. 

India's Sun Mobility and Honda recently set up a battery sharing service in India, starting with three-wheelers, but it's still in a very early phase. The idea has gained some traction elsewhere with scooters from Gogoro, which recently launched its battery swapping tech in China. Gogoro reportedly plans to enter the Indian market in partnership with the country's largest two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp. 

India's push for EVs is a key component of its Paris agreement commitment to reduce carbon emissions by up to 35 percent by 2030. It plans to give $6 billion worth of incentives to companies that build clean vehicles and produce batteries locally. The country has nearly 975,000 registered EVs, but only 1,028 public charging stations, according to the Hindustan Times. 

Starting today, owners of non-Tesla electric vehicles can juice up their batteries at select Superchargers in France and Norway. Drivers can find eligible locations in the Tesla app. Based on screenshots Tesla shared, there are 20 such sites in France and 15 in Norway.

Tesla started opening up broader access to its Supercharger network in November. It initially allowed drivers of non-Tesla EVs to charge their car at 10 stations in the Netherlands. The pilot is open to EV drivers who live in the Netherlands, France, Norway, Germany and Belgium.

Only CCS-enabled vehicles are supported for now. Tesla owners will still be able to charge at Supercharger stations as normal, though drivers of other EVs will need to pay some additional fees to "support charging a broad range of vehicles and adjustments to our sites to accommodate these vehicles."

The company said it will keep an eye on possible congestion at each site. Future expansion of the pilot will depend on capacity, though Tesla said that "more customers using the Supercharger network enables faster expansion." It aims to eventually open all of its sites to all EV owners. Tesla said it has long been its ambition to open Supercharger locations to non-Tesla EVs to boost the overall availability of charging locations and encourage more drivers to opt for an electric vehicle (while earning some more scratch, of course).

A group of Democratic lawmakers led by Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachuttes has asked six crypto mining companies, including Riot Blockchain, to answer questions about the impact of their operations on the environment and cost of electricity in the US. In separate letters to the chief executives of each firm, the group asks the companies to detail how much electricity they consume, their scaling plans and any agreements they have in place with local utility companies. They have until February 10th to reply.

Lawmakers say they’re concerned about what a dramatic increase in domestic cryptocurrency mining has meant for the environment and consumers. Specifically, they cite a 2021 study from the University of California, Berkeley that estimated crypto mining in upstate New York raised annual electricity bills by approximately $165 million for small businesses and $79 million for consumers, “with little or no local economic benefit.” They also point to the fact that energy consumption related to Bitcoin mining tripled between 2019 and 2021.

“The extraordinarily high energy usage and carbon emissions associated with Bitcoin mining could undermine our hard work to tackle the climate crisis – not to mention the harmful impacts crypto mining has on local environments and electricity prices,” Senator Warren said. “We need more information on the operations of these crypto mining companies to understand the full scope of the consequences for our environment and local communities.”

The group stops short of suggesting regulatory action could be on the horizon for the industry, but clearly the effect of cryptocurrency on other parts of the economy is something lawmakers are thinking about. On January 20th, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing titled “Cleaning up Cryptocurrency: The Energy Impacts of Blockchains.” What’s more, US lawmakers have taken a more board interest in cryptocurrencies in recent months. That was on display in December when the Senate held a hearing on Stablecoins.

Panasonic could start mass producing larger-capacity batteries for Tesla as soon as next year. The 4680 cell is said to boost the range of electric vehicles by over 15 percent. As Nikkei notes, that could boost the range of the Model S from 650km (404 miles or so) on a single charge to 750km (around 465 miles).

Although the battery is said to be twice as big as previous versions, it has a fivefold increase in energy capacity, according to Nikkei. As such, cars need fewer of the batteries, which are already 10 to 20 percent cheaper to produce. It's estimated that batteries account for 30 percent of the cost of EVs. A cost reduction could make EVs more affordable and hasten the transition to electric vehicles. What's more, a longer range means drivers won't need to charge batteries as often.

Panasonic, a long-time partner of Tesla, is reportedly investing around 80 billion yen ($704 million) on new equipment to produce the 4680. It's said to be expanding an existing plant in Japan and making the batteries there to begin with. Nikkei reports the company will start making the cells on a small scale this year to develop safe and efficient processes before entering mass production in 2023. It may mass produce the batteries in other countries later.

The company confirmed to Reuters that it was setting up a test production line in 2022, though didn't say when it will start making the batteries at a larger scale. "We are studying various options for mass production," it said.

Panasonic started working on the cell following a request from Tesla. The head of Panasonic's battery division said in November that the company hasn't ruled out producing the cell for other automakers, though Tesla is its priority. Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously said that although his company plans to make its own batteries, it would continue to source them from other suppliers.

Tesla announced the 4680 at a Battery Day event in September 2020. At the time, Musk said the cell and other developments could enable Tesla to start selling a $25,000 EV.