Rumors that NASA scientists have warned of a possible “internet apocalypse” expected in the next decade have caused a real uproar on social media around the world.
Let’s understand:
- Fears of an “internet apocalypse” emerged following the release of a survey in 2021;
- The study predicts that a solar superstorm could destroy fiber optic cables underwater;
- Two years later, social media was flooded with posts saying NASA had warned about this;
- According to these publications, the agency declared that the apocalyptic scenario would occur in the next decade;
- Although these communications attributed to NASA do not exist, some experts still claim that the possibility is real;
- A US scientist says the chance that “something really big will happen” and the internet collapses in the next decade is about 10%;
- He has created a warning system that can mitigate risks and consequences.
In a society that is increasingly dependent on the Internet in all aspects, a collapse of the network can lead to real chaos. Photo credit: Rawpixel.com Shutterstock
Avalanche of alarming posts on the Internet
A report published in June by the British newspaper Mirror sparked this wave of alarming posts about a global internet blackout that would be caused by the sun.
However, it is worth remembering that this problem is not new today. In fact, it all started in 2021 with the publication of a study by a researcher from the University of California, USA, named Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi, who predicted a semiapocalyptic scenario in which undersea fiber optic cables would be particularly vulnerable to a large coronal mass ejection (CME) i.e. a solar superstorm. (O Digital look talked about this research here).
According to the scientist, should an extreme solar wind aimed at Earth hit the planet, it would impact these international internet cables, disrupting connectivity at the source. “It’s like turning off the water supply to a house by breaking the street pipes,” Sangeetha said.
Widespread fear of the socalled “Internet apocalypse” triggered an avalanche of fastspreading misinformation about nonexistent NASA warnings and speculation about what would happen to humanity in an offline world.
This panic is understandable, because virtually every aspect of human life is connected to the Internet, and its absence can have catastrophic consequences not to mention that many people can barely handle a 30second elevator ride without a signal.
Solar Superstorms: What They Are
Experts point out that a widespread internet outage could actually be caused by a powerful solar storm hitting Earth a rare but very real event that has not yet occurred in the digital age.
The sun has an 11year cycle of solar activity and is currently in what astronomers call solar cycle 25. This number refers to cycles that have been closely observed by scientists.
Breakers on the Sun’s surface, created by entanglements in the star’s magnetic fields, send particles charged with radiation at an incredible speed of 1.6 million km/h, which can be even faster in higher class flares.
Solar flares are sometimes accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are clouds of magnetized plasma that can take up to three days to reach Earth.
Depending on the force with which they arrive here, CMEs trigger geomagnetic storms of varying magnitudes in the atmosphere. These storms produce beautiful auroras, but can also cause power outages and even knock satellites out of orbit.
When a solar storm known as the Carrington Event hit the planet in 1859, telegraph lines were affected, operators were electrocuted, and auroras descended to incredibly low latitudes.
Artist’s impression of a solar superstorm. Photo credit: Artsiom P Shutterstock
More than a century later, in 1989, a solar storm disrupted the power grid in Quebec, Canada, for many hours. And in 2012, another such event flooded the Earth, avoiding serious consequences.
Alert system would act as an “insurance policy.”
Peter Becker, a researcher at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, is leading a project in collaboration with the US Naval Research Laboratory that aims to develop a system that can warn the population about 18 hours before solar particles arrive can The Earth’s magnetic field.
The Internet came of age at a time when the sun was relatively calm. Now he is entering a more active era. This is the first time in human history that solar activity has increased with such dependence on the Internet.
Peter Becker, space climate scientist, in a statement to Fox Weather.
Recalling what happened during the Carrington event, he says that a similar CME currently could actually “bring the systems to a standstill for several weeks to months and the entire infrastructure will need to be repaired.”
As reported by Digital lookThe peak of the current solar cycle, previously expected for 2025, is likely to occur a year earlier. According to Becker, there is about a 10% chance that “something really big will happen that could destroy the internet” in the 2030s.
Read more:
The team of scientists involved in the project monitors solar activity and analyzes the brightness of the star. By detecting changes that signal the firing of CMEs toward Earth, they can estimate the arrival of charged particles on the planet.
This material could cause a disruption in the magnetic field for 18 to 24 hours. For Becker, the alarm would be essential so that the devices are switched off and do not burn.
“There are things you can do to mitigate the problem, and warning is one of them,” says the researcher. “In the long term, we are talking about strengthening the Internet, which is an economic challenge and the project would act as an insurance policy. They may never need it, and it would cost trillions to truly strengthen the system.”