When it comes to catastrophic space weather, the UK is holding a cocktail umbrella

Summary

The UK's National Audit Office (NAO) has warned the country is underprepared for a severe space weather event. While the report commends the UK's forecasting abilities, even if overall resilience lags, it also highlights more that needs to be done in both areas to handle a severe space weather event. Recent solar storms have posed a headache for spacecraft and satellite operators. While the impact of the storm in May 2024 was minor, "it moved thousands of satellites from their orbits," the NAO stated. A solar flare on September 1, 1859, triggered a magnetic storm known as "the Carrington Event," one of the largest on record. Telegraph machines reportedly shocked operators and caused small fires. The impact on modern electronics would be severe – communications could be disrupted, there might be localized power outages, satellite navigation might fail, and so on. In 2025, the government estimated a 5-25 percent chance of a severe space weather event by 2030. However, according to the NAO, the UK is not well prepared. Despite severe space weather being added to the UK's National Risk Register in 2011, and some investment in developing the country's forecasting capabilities, the NAO warned that the government "does not yet understand the full range of possible impacts and cascading effects well." It has also not "yet set out how resilient it would like the UK to be to severe space weather, nor what level of resilience its spending will provide." Forecasting is better, with the UK's Met Office, which opened a space weather monitoring center in 2014, receiving praise despite limited resources. Up to 96 hours' warning of a space weather event (depending on its type) is possible, providing a window for operators to take preventive action (for example, shutting down power transformers) to prevent damage. However, there is only so much that can be done with the current resources. The UK does not have any of its own space weather satellites and must make do with data from par...