There is another solar storm coming, and the Internet is under threat once again. According to a new report on solar storms, it is said that a massive upcoming solar storm is likely to damage the infrastructure and in the process cause a massive internet apocalypse.

Hindustan Times reported that a research paper published by Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi of the University of California, Irvine and VMware Research, a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), popularly known as a solar storm, is a directional ejection of a large mass of highly magnetized particles from the sun.

The report further said that when the earth is in the direct path of a solar storm, these magnetized and charged solar particles will interact with the earth’s magnetic field and produce several effects, which includes damaging long-distance cables that constitute the backbone of the Internet.

Meanwhile, it can be seen that the present day internet primarily uses fiber optic cables, which are immune to a solar storm unlike the previous generation of coaxial cables, since it carries light and not electric current.

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As per the researcher, longhaul cables that stretch hundreds or thousands of kilometers also have an accompanying conductor that connects repeaters in series along the length of cables called the power feeding line. Solar storm impact will affect this conductor.

The researcher furthermore said that the submarine cables are more vulnerable to a solar storm than land cables, primarily due to their larger lengths. It is also said that the impact of a solar storm on the internet infrastructure is based on topology.

While under-the-sea cables are more impacted by solar storms, the researcher alleged that the communication satellites are among the most severe systems that can be affected by a solar storm.

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“The damages are not caused by GIC but due to direct exposure to highly charged particles in CMEs…Threats to communication satellites include damage to electronic components and extra drag on the satellite, particularly in low earth orbit systems such as Starlink that can cause orbital decay and uncontrolled reentry to earth,” the researcher wrote.

What is the impact of a solar storm?

The researcher have said that most of the repeaters are highly susceptible to failure. And if most of the repeaters on a network go offline, it could create an internet blackout in a nation that only relies on undersea cables.

Today, the internet has been designed in a way that even if one pathway fails, it could be rerouted through another pathway. But this would come at an immense cost to both connectivity and speed.