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What is the effect of solar wind on satellites?

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If you think of the sun as a giant globule of boiling water, the solar wind is like the wisps of steam that float away from the surface. The sun isn't made of water but is instead a sea of atoms so hot that the electrons on the outside and the protons and neutrons at the nuclei are separated from each other. read more

The surface of the Earth is protected from nearly all the effects of solar wind, but satellites are not so lucky. Atmospheric Heating The ordinary solar wind at the Earth travels about 400 kilometers per second -- almost an impressive 900,000 miles per hour. read more

Solar wind that reaches Earth's orbit can interfere with communications and electrical equipment, including satellites. Ball of Incandescent Gas The sun is a ball of high-energy, incandescently hot gas. read more

Solar wind can even push spacecraft out of the geostationary orbital plane due to the >1200 sq ft of solar array area. We spend a lot of fuel every year to stay in that plane. Luckily the required force is small, so we can use Hall effect thruster s, which are >5x more fuel efficient than chemical thrusters. read more

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