well german city of munich may be landlocked bought its intrepid surface can still find a way to enjoy their favorite sport the surfers brave ice and snow to ride the waves on the 2 kilometer manmade strain that flows through the city's renowned english garden the facility is open one year round to experience right is. well it may not be as warm as hawaii but they say the surfing can be just as much fun. you're watching data games we'll have more headlines at the top of the hour thanks for watching. because. we're all set. to go beyond. that. we're all about the stories that matter to. a good. lawyer it takes. a long running try to explain what could not get out of

the job you made for mines. untold thousands of years we have relied on the sun's light and whom it's powerful rays making life and growth in our world possible for this we worship and adore it . however the sun also expelled tremendous plasma storms and these eruptions of energy challenged winds potentially capable of disrupting our power supply resulting in a global blackout. to. the infrastructures and technologies we use are vulnerable to space weather could feel. this intense as they are grateful for the sun but it also presents a major answer to the rest securely when there is so still and. these storms occur

time and again at irregular intervals of up to several years and the last one in 2017 fortunately missed planet earth. in order to solve the enigma of solar storms nasa scientists have now developed the 1st probe that can fly. into the sun and approach it more closely than ever before. will this enable scientists to investigate the risks posed by the storms or are we at damacy. the astrophysicist foca boat researches the sun and is in charge of the german team working on building this new probe all its sides have to be equipped with sensitive

instruments capable of withstanding the extreme forces and temperature is the most crucial component is a camera capable of observing the solar storms and foca boatman is responsible for it we couldn't foresee i'm sure we can give an early warning about solar storms by making the appropriate and base observations look and there are some observations that can really only be conducted from space you come in you need satellite technology and cameras on board which provide you with lead times and any precautionary measures taken depend on the sleep time up. the mission is meant to help provide advance warning unable to better prepare for the storms. but for this purpose research must be conducted on the origins of solar storms and the question as to why they pick up speed so rapidly in fact they reach such high

speeds that it takes them just one to 2 days to reach earth where they he says at 7000000 kilometers an hour. a comparison of full blown tornado rages at a speed of 500 kilometers an hour. and never before has there been a mission that has flown so close to the sun. such an approach is risky and so the probe must also set completely new standards nasa scientists call it the parkers solar probe. will be flying about 6000000 kilometers from the source surface if this is the sun a distance but a sort of probe will be flying this close to the sun. the parkers solar probe will come 96 percent closer to the sun than earth and the outcome of this ambitious mission remains uncertain but this is the only way to explore how and when solar

storms occur this is there's no question that a strong solar storm will happen in the near future it's just a question of time and we want to be as well protected as possible before. because of a solar storm catches us off guard it causes incredibly high temperatures capable of melting even the biggest transformers in substations as occurred in october 2003 in south africa a widespread abrupt power outage would put water works in their pumps out of service. at the same time pipelines would stop conveying oil because they too run on electricity extended power failures caused by transformer damage would bring nearly everything to his. standstill since even emergency power generators can only keep operating for so long scientists warn that everything would come to a stop and food shortages would occur.

earth normally boasts a magnetic field that protects us from solar particles however when solar winds turn into a storm this protection is no longer sufficient. the mass of plasma then presses against the magnetic field compressing it. roman laon heart of the conrad observatory i'm in austria has been recording changes in earth's magnetic field for years and such geomagnetic measurements can then be used to detect solar storms. protected from external influences he has ensured optimum conditions for his measuring instruments here 50 kilometers southwest of vienna in a geophysical research facility on travel bad mountain.

normally this magnetic field is rather quiet with hardly any movement but when a solar storm hits we see a significant jump in activity. these measurements of earth's magnetic field are important in assessing the solar storm data recorded by satellites. the more data available to us about a solar storm the better we can predict where and with how much force it will reach earth and how much dangerous energy it will unleash the key question is when a solar storm will overload the power grid. professor renna has developed a system enabling him to determine how the extraordinarily high currents will impact the power grid based on geomagnetic measurements taken here in this observatory. solar winds hitting earth are also visible in other ways the magnetic field lines on the side facing the sun connect together and enable electrically

charged particles to flow into earth's atmosphere there they stimulate atoms making them glow. so it's actually the effects of solar storms that cause the northern lights of the poles sometimes in red and sometimes in green. in the event of strong solar storms the lights are visible farther away from the polls as well continuing farther and farther toward the equator. it's is rare to see this phenomenon as a total solar eclipse. and. when the moon passes in front of the sun we see a bright halo of light around it known as the corona and that's where the parkas solar probe is flying because it's where solar winds are created and precisely

where something unusual happens if you have a come fire. the further away you move from it the cooler it gets but does not work for the sort of core when you look at the surface of the sun the temperature is about 6000 degrees move up about 23000 kilometers and the temperature of the plasma will jump to more than a 1000000 degree that is completely counter-intuitive. it would not it would not be that way but sun magically dust things that are out of the ordinary and one of them is what we call the corner hitting the corner it's more than $300.00 times hotter than sort of surface. understanding coronal heating is crucial for the scientists and it's why folk of bode miller was determined to take pictures there and equip the probe with a special camera in collaboration with his nasa colleague russell howard in washington d.c. . the nasa scientists in

washington had not yet decided whether the probe would have a camera on board as its load capacity was limited. folco boatman not only had good arguments on hand but also had long been friends with his american colleague russell howard they both shared an affinity for the sun. i call for you good to see you thankfulness you ben was a good colleague. in the end to russell how would you decided to install a camera on board the parkas solar probe and began making 1st drafts of his space camera an instrument he would like to take special pictures with i actually love to talk graffiti i've always loved it so this is this is amazing. my personal goal was to really to have an instrument that i could

see see the sun see the corona not the sun but the course or corona. the camera needed to have a view angle that would capture the corona around the sun and for this purpose it had to be placed at a certain position on the probe. here we have a model of the of the whisper instrument and we're delighted to be in this position . of being. on the spacecraft. and just just about so. the camera would be very sensitive to light meaning that boat and how it would have to prevent sunlight from being able to shine on to the camera's lens while it took photos of the corona. i think were said could you switch off or like volcker yes and we'll do it will just. based on your stuff it's important for the sunlight to be shielded off because the camera is meant to

observe structures in the solar wind and the corona that are millions of times less bright. the heat of the sunlight is also so dangerous that the camera must always be protected by shade. after long consideration an agreement was reached on the concept and construction of the camera could begin. it owes its unusual shank to the 2 wide angle lenses while the camera cover which protects the lens is installed beneath can be opened on the side. but when taking pictures the exposed lens is appointed in the direction of flight and dust particles from space are expected to hit the front lenses at high speed meaning damage is. inevitable it was hard to predict how hard the lenses would be impacted as boatman and how would would breaking new ground.

but they couldn't risk the camera being blinded so they needed a glass with a special extra top surface and tried out different variety something you see any with the naked eye yet i can see some spots a lot i once. oh that's interesting and i can compare it with everything with the other 2 types. so much to put small cults' it looks like. what'll happen is when one in the bed is coming out we're going to see it and then the spacecraft will run into though that. we're going to be flying through that sort of harsh particle environment i mean that's a risk. it's sort of like dust on your car window that you get these impacts and when if you have a very old car you have a lot of dust impact in and when you're driving into the bright sun it's really

difficult to say. so. it's the same problem that we have. folco boatman and russell howard already have valuable experience building space cameras together on a previous projects they photographed solar winds in 3 d. . what kind of cameras to footrest work on board that's never been done before. we don't have such cameras that's correct. in 2006 the missions sent off 2 satellites at once called stereo a and stereo be enabling the solar wind to be photographed from 2 sides at once but only from a very long distance. the great goal solar telescope stands at an altitude of 2400 meters at the foot of pico dealt a day on the island of 10

a refit where almost ideal conditions prevail for observing the sky. as the largest telescope in europe this telescope helps compliment observations by the parkas solar probe from earth. usually air turbulence in the atmosphere poses an obstacle to observing the sun from earth but luzzi a client has a special mirror in her telescope that can compensate for such distortions. what's more the swiss scientist can observe the sun around the clock from here. the park is all pro the pakistani probe can take measurements there not during certain periods when it's close to the sun while we can take solar measurements every day. the telescope strong point however is it particularly high resolution enabling the astrophysicist to study the sun spots with precision.

is on the head i mean his son has an 11 year cycle meaning that every 11 years it exhibits a particularly large number of carnal mass ejections and sunspots and we've been aware of this cycle for centuries in the past sunspots were seen as somehow evil because every time their current they lead to disturbances and so less storms but we now know that sunspots are actually just cool areas on the sun's surface. around the sports the sun's surface resemble supporter of boiling water with hot plasma rising from the depths cooling down and sinking back down again this results in a vibrant pattern of bright bubbles with dark ages. and investigating them took fine tuning and cooperation. in solar physics we always try to

aggregate the data from all telescopes and space probes because only by combining them can we really find out about the sun. if such extensive observations had been being carried out back in 1909 canada might not have experienced the devastating power outage that affected 6000000 people. in the winter weather of quebec at minus 7 degrees not only did the district heating fail but the children's hospitals power suddenly went out in the middle of several surgical operations. the transformers couldn't handle the enormous power surges. in austria the electricity grid provider a.p.g. therefore operates transformers designed to compensate for the hazardous d.c. currents caused by solar wind however it will take decades for these kinds of

transformers to become commonplace because due to their prohibitive costs electricity grid operators can only install such transformers here and there a solution must be found and fallen when when a solar wind heads south it so facts are not limited to a small space but they actually impact a very large area meaning multiple transformers will undoubtedly be hit when numerous elements fail at once however this naturally results in power outages and in the worst case even a blackout because. bowker both know wants to make sure that solar storms do not become nasty surprises which is why scientists shouldn't be the only ones privy to the solar data recorded. instead there should be an easily accessible option for anyone to quickly get an idea of the sun's conditions and

folk a boat has developed an app that directly displays nasa's observations of the sun. since the topic is becoming increasingly important to us and society i wanted to develop a space weather app enabling you to have easy access to information about the sun's activity at any time along with what consequences that might have in the coming days. reading tea leaves to forecast solar storms is no alternative to scientists working with validated data to make their predictions even if they are not tested to their limits. of their own this alone is so complex that you can simulate it as a whole you can imagine it's magnetic field like a rubber band running from the north to the south pole so you will tell it that the sun rotates faster it is quite said than at the poles meaning this rubber band gets twisted up which is precisely what leads to say list storms.

the magnetic field lines binds tons of plasma to them however if they become so in tangled that they burst open by hurtle this plasma out into the void of space. it's still relatively young clay whether solaced on scandal or predicted at all because if there is still means a take a chaotic will never be able to predict them several days in advance. solar storms not only here planet earth but also this very cool zones around us which are home to orbiting g.p.s. satellites among other things and these form the basis for our navigation systems.

if there is the g.p.s. is disturbed by solar storms this alters your determined position you'll certainly know you're in europe or america that anyway know if the runway is ahead of you or to use only. imprecise navigation is a nightmare for pilots and aviation safety with accurate signals absolutely mandatory in order for nothing to go wrong. this problem can pose life threatening risks for example when japan temporarily lost control of 2 g.p.s. satellites in 2003. g.p.s. signals move through the iona sphere that surrounds earth like a shell so if it's deformed by a solar storm this distorts such signals. but it lets during the last strong solar storm a few years ago about 60 aircraft were not allowed to take off and

a flight radar. failed in scandinavia flu called dos it's got. some american airlines are already taking space weather into account and the international civil aviation organization recently established a working group to determine when aircraft must remain on the ground. co-creator we need hard space weather data for forecasting and we need appropriate standard the neighboring information to be passed on worldwide as to what effects can be expected under what space weather conditions and what actions must be taken but that is still in the process of being developed for the coming years. and nature has its own struggle with space weather with some birds and insects for example the monarch butterfly relying on their own navigation system based on earth's magnetic field. this normally enables them to reliably find their way to their winter home

however if earth's magnetic field is disturbed by a solar storm the sensitive insects get lost. in autumn when the sun is no higher than 52 degrees in the sky it gives the starting signal for millions of monarch butterflies to begin their 3000 kilometer journey from the higher latitudes of north america down to mexico. every year they land at exactly the same place again within an area of just 20 hec terrace for 5 months they take in the sun along the pine trees before starting their return trip. but they lack the strength to persevere for the long trip and will never reach their distant home in north america. the parkas solar probe also requires a lot of energy for its long flight 1st it must fly to faraway jupiter to pick up

extra momentum and be flung by its gravitational pull before venturing onward to the sun. but the concept has been the subject of spirited debate among researches because the side trip to jupiter would require the probe to be equipped with its own nuclear power plant entailing an enormous investment even for nasa guys very much i wonder is there if you think that's progress i think we have to discuss a couple of your focus boatman discussed the flight route with the nasa team once again and the costs were too high so when you trajectory had to be found russell howard and folk aboard considered what path might work as an alternative to the jupiter route we're going to change the trajectory of our satellite by hitting venus and then go directly to the sun. and i could see the ok

so here i am sitting on my rocket i have to get the speed right true. you need end the nasa scientists agreed that the probe should start off toward venus where it will be slowed down by passing by before continuing onward to the sun. this also significantly increases the available measuring times because the parker solar probe will not go around the sun just twice but 24 times. the european space agency e.s.a. is also working on solving the mystery surrounding solar storms and have also been developing their own probe for over 12 years called the solar orbiter. this is on. a special thing about a solar orbiter is its trajectory which will take us out of the plane of the solar system i love all our observations so far from the perspective of. and because all

the planets revolve strictly within the plane of the solar system like on a record player it would take a lot of effort to escape this ecliptic and we feel what we are missing is data from the solar pole about the only way to see the poses to fly out of their clip take and observe the poles from above. danielle miller coordinates the various solar orbiter tames and one of their biggest challenges is to ensure that the 1000000000 euro object can withstand the heat in france for example various materials have been tested for years to do just that. new sums i.v. i develop a process we have managed to develop special materials and methods for these instruments enabling them not to melt. metal you off of so that the instruments can continue taking measurements and achieve the expected result yellows are documented on. 10 different measuring instruments have been developed for the solar orbit turn

one is able to detect the x. rays from the sun with this instrument physicist see a client utilizes an optical grid that the x. rays pass through. an important stepping stone in the study of solar storms. in say funding visible light you can only see the effects of solar eruptions that's true x. rays you can investigate their causes and in our instruments we have 2 metal grades and on them you can see a pattern caused by the x. rays on the pattern is highly accurate and varies depending on where the soldier eruption occurred on the sun thus allowing us to determine exactly where the particles came from that fund. the special ability to locate the eruptions is unique to the e.s.a. solo orbiter probe nasser's park a solar probe can't do that so both probes will complement each other.

assembly had to be firm with just a year before launch the probe and all its details had to be finalized. meanwhile the start up procedures were being tested in the control center over several months. ago. you know early 2020 the probe was finally ready for launch. party bringing in white. in the many iranians are moving good bring cameras and are going to be off. the solar orbit so we'll spend 7 years collecting data from the sun employing its 10 different on board measuring systems all from different european countries. personally the sonar orbiter has meant

a lot to me because it has shown that you can build a very complex things together with a lot of other people all incorporating their different areas of expertise i've seen over the past 12 years how many people have invested many years of their lives giving it their all to make this as good as possible. yes to getting solar storms has been a long held dream for many nasa scientists too as early as 958 when nasa was founded there were those who wanted to conduct a mission to the sun at the time assistant professor eugene parker had only just proposed the theory that there might be solar winds for his bold thesis to be verified they would have to organize a mission to the sun we knew that the space age was coming and that we would soon tell us directly whether there was a solar well. i'm going to search for a matter of 2 years' time. that's it make time for who had enjoyed the difficulty

in praising the existence of solar wind sleigh not only in our inability to launch a space mission but also in the fact that the phenomenon was disputed by respected scientists eugene hawkins theory was completely unprecedented and was rejected by many on the referee a suggestion i go on a lot of her. rear ball how about personally i wouldn't make such a statement. was. i don't know why i was so not part of her some people are just don't see see things. the new way one time changes and concepts change there's no change when that there are. changes and. they dislike them pass iowa saw. a good rational change is fine for.

that over 90 years old mr parker is finally able to reap the benefits of his work in astrophysics 60 years after he discovered solar winds it's now possible to take the 1st measurements and photos of them in the middle of the corona. and the spacecraft has been named the parkers solar probe in his honor. the heat of the sun is unfathomable rising to $15000000.00 degrees celsius at its core. the energy is then emitted outward via particles in a process that can take hundreds of thousands of years during this long journey outward the particles become fatigued diminishing in energy and turning into visible light. scientists have determined that the sun's visible surface still has a temperature of 6000 degrees however. the and.

the space probe is prevented from melting mainly through its heat shield composed of carbon compounds a mere 11 centimeters thick. but the question remains as to whether this will suffice to protect the measuring instruments. while the side of the heat shield facing the sun is meant to withstand up to $1400.00 degrees the dark side will be almost room temperature. in addition a water circuit cools the solar cells in order to prevent them from overheating. and after all temperature is not the same as heat temperature is only a means of measurement while heat itself is discharged energy. in gaseous heat the energy particles are spread out so thin that the probe would hardly come into contact with them meaning despite temperatures in the corona of 2

to 3000000 degrees the heat doesn't pose a risk to the spacecraft. at nasa the parkers solar probe was almost finished and only a few tests remained this mission success would. and heavily on whether the camera mr howard and mr boatman had developed was stable enough even for a space flight or their design is very sturdy weighing in at 10 kilograms but a rocket launch is so powerful that it's necessary to conduct a special vibration test. this is a critical point for all space missions which is why there's a dedicated laboratory where the vibrations can be simulated. part of constructing our space experiment is proving that it's going to work in space that it's going to survive this very violent launch i mean i i can't imagine

being an astronaut sitting on top of a rocket. during during the launch it's just. that there just boggles my mind that somebody would do that knisley. it's a very tough ride and but so that the vibration is is part of the launch the launch sequence. the camera cover could also present a problem because if it were to fail to open the lenses would be blinded. the parkas solar probe thus underwent test after test. 3 months before the long. cover that we have a problem with a set of heat sensors on the spacecraft. we had 87 of them. on

the spacecraft and just a few of them and when i say phew i think it's 3 or 4 feet. i remember that david lee it was it was absolutely electric. and the team was so nervous i mean we are seeing the finish line. but we may not cross and that was that was not a good feeling to have but the team is so great so. in a month and a half. they came up with a solution. we don't store the new system of its sense of space good. but on top of that figured out what followed what was the root cause of the failures of the other the old system and now when the spacecraft we have to system of it's sensors and they are working both live together and beautifully without problems. only the largest available rocket the delta 4 heavy could provide enough lift to launch the

probe from cape canaveral air force station in florida. 65 am every 2 wide 0 multiplied in the delta 4 heavy rock with masses parker so approach. to hang back and that day in 2018 a lifelong dream of eugene parker's came true.

the further away the probe is from earth the more difficult it becomes to communicate with it and directly at the sun there is radio silence. operating like a sort of probe is one of the most challenging arm aspects of the mission. when we get into the encounter more when the spacecraft is very close of song it has to be 100 percent autonomy us. by that i mean if there is something that happens of the spacecraft it has already paid such we cannot intervene we cannot do anything for. a worldwide network event 10 is unable dated to be exchanged and yet contact between earth and the probe is only possible when the 2 are in a particular configuration with each other. so

basically when we get in the. encounter mode the only way to communicate with spacecraft is what we call a beacon tolls and because those are very limited bits of deliberately that tells us the overall state of the operation level of the space guy and they are emitted but we call the fund beams and this fund beams that emit basically 180 degrees wide . beam of review and the earth has to be very large and there's this immediately in order to detect it for good and hopefully today we get to the controls so the tenors tucked behind the. yes it would not see the direct sunlight some silo that all has to operating temperature. so let's look young. now all the scientists could do was wait and see until the parkas solar probe could

transmit its 1st data a journey that would take $88.00 days and nights $88.00 days that would pass according to the rhythm of the sun as they have passed for millions of years. solar time is the time shown by a sundial the engineer carlo helen developed sundials himself and he and his daughter a well acquainted with the rhythm the sun sets out for us and how the day is divided into hours and minutes. and the sun dials produced here you can see that our official summer and winter times rarely coincide with true solar time yet solar time is crucial for our bodies . it's on the gate amongst all the sun rises in the morning and when it reaches its zenith this is referred to

as solar noon the real midday zone side and it's defined as 12 o'clock solar time after time and there's noone divides the day into 2 halves of exactly the same length or and our circadian rhythm is based on solar time and centered around 12 o'clock noon or simply that. our bodily functions depend on this solar time and sun dials show us which phase of the day we're in. the sonic youth. as the sun rises our blood pressure and body temperature rise and we wake up and then when the amount of blue light he creases again is evil and our bodies release melatonin and we lie down again to sleep and the next morning it all starts back over again thanks to the sun. the sun's power and radiance are immense and there's no doubt that we live in its

atmosphere as scientists say making it all the more urgent for us to explore the sun's mysteries using all the means at our disposal. if it is only we will observe the sun with telescopes we will also measure the breath of a sample in the solar wind as it passes by the satellite and if we can really make that connection with data from the parkers sonar probe we will really be able to reconstruct a chain of cause and effect and manage to better understand our place in the solar system in. the nasa mission is going according to plan so far with the parkers solar probe sending it signals to earth on time there's a feeling of suspense in the control room whenever a new dater is expected because the special camera developed by mr boatman and mr howard is already providing sensational pictures after the 1st phase of the mission

it became clear to the scientists that the image we had had of the sun so far was far too simplistic before the launch we had the workshop to. basically to make predictions of what corporate bucket sort of probes going to see in space all the predictions are completely wrong. what we are seeing in the data is an youth phenomenon that if you know but we never seemed to saw it before. it's now clear that the magnetic field lines of the sun do not spread out evenly but instead they call spontaneously zigzags within seconds and this may be a key element in understanding solar storms. the 2 probes will continue sending data so earth for several years and each revolution around the sun will reveal new findings.

science will try to provide us with the answers to pressing questions in order to protect us from the dangers posed by the sun. to. what's going on here. house of your fairly own from a printer. computer games that are healing. my dog needs electricity. just explains delivers facts and shows what the future holds.

yet living in the digital world shift. in 15 minutes on t.w. . in good shape. what effects does climate change have on our health even. for me is the g.p.s. it's a very important real there's a. lot to teach in the future and one of the reasons temperatures leave the house. in 30 minutes on d. w. . in the height of climate change. the frequency of. what's in store.

for the future. comes 2nd major cities. inside. center. this is day to day news live from berlin a ring of steel around washington d.c. full 50 us states on high alert in the run up to president elect joe biden's inauguration 25000 national guard troops are being sent in to protect the nation's capital also coming up from springs for that station wide coronavirus curfew 216-8000.