Scientist proposes to ‘build a wall’ to block solar storms

Theo Spacea research team led by associate professor Brian Walsh at Boston University, Massachusetts proposed a bold solution called StormWall to strengthen the magnetosphere, a natural shield that prevents powerful solar storms from attacking the Earth. They used computer simulations to demonstrate that magnetospheric strengthening by a fleet of spacecraft could reduce the intensity of a major geomagnetic storm by more than half.

If the idea becomes reality, the StormWall system could protect fragile satellites, global communications networks, GPS systems and power grids from disruptions caused by charged particles from solar storms. Walsh shared that his idea for a storm wall in space was inspired by a natural phenomenon. Material separates from Earth’s atmosphere and drifts to the edge of the magnetosphere, helping to strengthen the planet’s protective shield. Walsh and his colleagues describe StormWall in detail in a paper published on June 2 in the journal Space Weather.

During particularly powerful solar eruptions, the magnetosphere can be penetrated through magnetic reconnection. When the solar wind magnetic field points south, opposite to the Earth’s north magnetic field, the magnetic field lines of the two sides collide, break and reconnect in a new structure. This process opens a hole, allowing a large amount of solar energy to flood into near-Earth space, causing geomagnetic storms. The StormWall system is designed to prevent that process by deploying six spacecraft into geostationary orbit. Each satellite will carry substances such as barium, lithium, sodium or calcium, which can be safely stored in solid or liquid form and converted to vapor when needed.

If a dangerous solar storm is detected rushing towards Earth, the system controller will send orders to the fleet to drop materials. Sunlight will quickly ionize the vaporized particles, turning them into a cloud of charged plasma. The artificial plasma cloud will drift to the edge of the magnetosphere opposite the Sun, thickening the shield between Earth and the incoming solar wind. This helps slow down the effectiveness of the magnetic reconnection process, causing the solar storm to be pushed back and around the planet.

To test the feasibility of the idea, the research team simulated a geomagnetic storm occurring in May 2024. One model recreates the event under normal conditions, while the other simulates a storm with an active StormWall plasma wall. The results show that although it does not completely eliminate geomagnetic storms, StormWall can reduce the storm intensity by more than 50%. By disrupting the flow of energy at the magnetospheric boundary, artificial plasma is effective in repelling solar storms.

Theo Alert themselvesone of the biggest barriers to implementing StormWall is cost. Launching 6 spacecraft carrying an amount of material equivalent to 12 oil tankers is not cheap. After material release and optical ionization, the system cannot be replenished and can only be used once. But according to Walsh, StormWall still brings greater benefits in the context of private companies investing billions of dollars in space infrastructure such as building data centers in orbit. The research team compared a “once in a hundred years” geomagnetic storm that could cause serious damage in space and on Earth, with the cost of damage to the power grid alone reaching up to 2.4 trillion USD.

Walsh is confident his team can reduce StormWall costs. Next, they are planning to research how to reduce the amount of material used by half, simulate the release of material in batches to extend the system’s lifespan, and search for more efficient orbits. They also wanted to determine the best elements to use. According to Walsh, the risk of long-term contamination when using StormWall is very low because the artificial plasma will leave the system relatively quickly, being swept away by the solar wind in about six hours instead of returning to Earth’s atmosphere.