One major nation has taken key steps and invested over $900,000,000 in a bid to stop 'hostile' states like China and Russia from taking advantage of attacks from the Sun, as extreme weather is set to increase in the future.
Global warfare doesn't necessarily restrict itself to direct combat anymore, as for decades rival nations have fought through proxy battles and covert operations in an attempt to destabilize their opposition.
There are already reports of secret 'kill switches' installed by China in electrical grids across the United States which could give the global superpower the ability to disable and dismantle key infrastructure against its potential enemy.
The United Kingdom has now announced the launch of a new mission worth over $900,000,000 that aims to prevent foreign nations from harnessing the power of the Sun, and it could prove vital if scientific projections come to fruition.
What is the UK's $900 million plan?
As reported by The i Paper, the United Kingdom will play a key role in the deployment of the European Space Agency's 'Vigil' satellite, which will be used to monitor the Sun.
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This will give nations a greater awareness of when catastrophic solar storms are on their way, which would likely prove to be incredibly disruptive to key infrastructure.
While this might seem like an unorthodox defense mechanism, it allows cooperating nations to remain theoretically one step ahead of foreign rivals who might want to take advantage of any outages with attacks, especially with how they affect radar systems.
Why are solar storms so dangerous?
Insurance firm Lloyds has estimated that a single solar storm could cause upwards of $2.4 trillion worth of economic damage across the globe, as it would likely take out significant amounts of key infrastructure used by governments, businesses, and populations alike.
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If you're unaware, solar storms are sudden explosions of energy and magnetic fields from the Sun, and if directed towards Earth it could cause what's known as a geomagnetic storm capable of wiping out power, navigations, communications, and financial systems.
One key piece of infrastructure that would likely be impacted by a solar storm in relation to the Vigil satellite are radar systems, which would be used to detect any incoming missiles or other attacks.
If foreign nations were aware ahead of time of a potential radar outage, then they could use that to plan a strike that theoretically couldn't be anticipated, yet with Vigil you could then hypothetically anticipate these moves even further in advance.