China to lead global space weather network to monitor dangerous solar eruptions

Latest agreements add to country’s initiative in long-term surveillance system to protect communications, power grids

China has set out to lead the construction of the world’s most comprehensive space weather monitoring and warning network, an ambitious ground-based system comprising the largest chain of observatories on Earth, passing through more than 10 countries and regions.

The International Meridian Circle Programme (IMCP) is aimed at building a matrix of surveillance stations to better understand and forecast solar activity such as solar storms, which can severely disrupt satellite communications, navigation and power grids on Earth.

The programme covers a huge section of the Earth – extending halfway around the planet and forming the largest network of observatories ever built.

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The project, which according to the IMCP website does not include the United States, was officially launched at a forum during the second Belt and Road Conference on Science and Technology Exchange in Chengdu, in southwest China’s Sichuan province, on June 12.

The Post has contacted the scientists in charge of the initiative for comment.

During the forum, five more organisations – including the Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics, under the International Science Council – as well as research institutes from South Korea, Nigeria, Thailand and Uganda, signed cooperation agreements with the National Space Science Centre (NSSC) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the lead institute of the project.

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The IMCP now has agreements with 36 international organisations and research institutes from countries that also include France, Sweden, Japan, Norway, Canada, Mexico and Uganda, according to Wang Chi, NSSC director and head of the international project.

“Our goal is to have 200 organisations on board for this programme,” Wang said in an interview with Science and Technology Daily, the official newspaper of the Ministry of Science and Technology, during the conference.

Near-Earth space – or geospace – has become a critical domain for human activity, including aerospace, exploration and navigation. However, frequent solar activity can create sudden and violent disturbances.

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China to lead global space weather network to monitor dangerous solar eruptions | South China Morning Post