POWERFUL solar flare belched at Mars rover Curiosity
NASA robot hit by giant blast en route to Red Planet
Posted in Science, 17th April 2012 14:03 GMT
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Vid NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite has spotted a giant eruption off the surface of the Sun that will hit rover Curiosity on its way to Mars.
The coronal mass ejection sent out an M1 class, or medium, solar flare from the north-east of the Sun that will hit NASA's Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO B) spacecraft, the Spitzer space telescope and the rover, as well as possibly glancing off Venus and Mars, according to SpaceWeather.com.
NASA was careful to point out that the prominence eruption was not aimed anywhere near Earth, despite the fact that the agency has already gone to the trouble of assuring the world there's no chance any solar flare could destroy all life on the planet.
The flare won't be able to do any damage to the various bits of space tech it reaches. ®
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