{"dataset":{"slug":"space-weather-impacts","title":"Space Weather Operational Impacts","description":"How solar activity reaches technology and people — the impacts on satellites, GPS and navigation, aviation, human spaceflight, power grids, and radio communications.","version":"1.0.0","lastGenerated":"2026-06-29","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","entityCount":6,"sources":["swpc","noaa"]},"entities":[{"id":"space_weather_impact:aviation","name":"Aviation","type":"space_weather_impact","domain":"science","description":"Aircraft on polar routes can lose high-frequency radio contact during solar radio blackouts and are exposed to raised radiation levels during solar particle events, sometimes forcing flights to divert to lower latitudes.","entryPath":"/heliophysics/aviation"},{"id":"space_weather_impact:gps-and-navigation","name":"GPS & Navigation","type":"space_weather_impact","domain":"science","description":"Satellite navigation signals pass through the ionosphere, and when solar flares and geomagnetic storms disturb it the signals are delayed and scattered, degrading positioning accuracy — a serious concern for aviation, surveying, and precision agriculture.","entryPath":"/heliophysics/gps-and-navigation"},{"id":"space_weather_impact:human-spaceflight","name":"Human Spaceflight","type":"space_weather_impact","domain":"science","description":"Radiation is one of the central hazards of human spaceflight. A large solar particle event can deliver a dangerous dose to astronauts, especially beyond the protection of Earth's magnetic field, and crews may need to shelter in more shielded parts of a spacecraft.","entryPath":"/heliophysics/human-spaceflight"},{"id":"space_weather_impact:power-grids","name":"Power Grids","type":"space_weather_impact","domain":"science","description":"Geomagnetic storms drive currents in the ground that flow into long transmission lines — geomagnetically induced currents — which can saturate and damage transformers and, in severe cases, cause regional blackouts. The 1989 Québec blackout is the classic example.","entryPath":"/heliophysics/power-grids"},{"id":"space_weather_impact:radio-communications","name":"Radio Communications","type":"space_weather_impact","domain":"science","description":"The X-rays from a solar flare suddenly increase the ionisation of the day-side ionosphere, absorbing high-frequency radio waves and causing radio blackouts across the sunlit Earth — the effect measured by NOAA's R-scale.","entryPath":"/heliophysics/radio-communications"},{"id":"space_weather_impact:satellites","name":"Satellites","type":"space_weather_impact","domain":"science","description":"Spacecraft are exposed to the full force of space weather: energetic particles charge their surfaces and interiors and flip bits in their electronics, while geomagnetic storms heat and expand the upper atmosphere, increasing drag and pulling low-orbit satellites down faster.","entryPath":"/heliophysics/satellites"}]}