'Solar Maximum' in 2025 will cause ‘Internet apocalypse’, destroying communication networks
text_fieldsNew York: A debate happening at least among techies suggests that solar storms could destroy communication networks sometime in 2025.
The conversation surrounding ‘internet apocalypse’ follows reports that the sun will reach ‘solar maximum’ in 2025, which means the star will be particularly active during this period.
Washington Post reported about ‘solar maximum’ , which suggests that the digital world is not prepared for it.
However, terms like ‘internet apocalypse’ is bandied about fueling misinformation and ‘unsubstantiated warnings’ in the name of American space agency NASA
The agency has not said anything yet about the end of internet from solar storms that are likely to happen two years later.
Many began discussing what it will be like for netizens if internet were to collapse from solar storms.
Sounding more like hype nevertheless, the report shares concerns it is not entirely a fiction.
Solar storm hitting Earth according to a report, is a rare event; however, in 1859, telegraph lines were sparked and operators electrocuted in an incident which later was to be called as Carrington Event.
Most recently in 1989, solar storms caused power outage at the Quebec power grid for hours, according to NDTV.
Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi, a computer science professor at University of California at Irvine, reportedly said that there have been no extreme events of solar storms.
‘We've never experienced one of the extreme case events, and we don't know how our infrastructure would respond to it. Our failure testing doesn't even include such scenarios,’ Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi, was quoted as saying.
Jyothi’s paper 'Solar Superstorms: Planning for an Internet Apocalypse’ made the term popular which subsequently fueled debates.
Severe solar storms, according to her, could affect undersea communications and large-scale infrastructure.
Snapping connection from it could take months before restoring, causing an economic impact of $11 billion in just one day in the US alone.