NASA's new AI model can predict when a solar storm may strike

There's no way to prevent these sorts of effects, but being able to predict when a large solar flare will occur could let people work around them. However, as Louise Harra, an astrophysicist at ETH Zurich, puts it, "when it erupts is always the sticking point." Scientists can easily tell from an image of the sun if there will be a solar flare in the near future, says Harra, who did not work on Surya. But knowing the exact timing and strength of a flare is much harder, she says. That's a problem because a flare's size can make the difference between small regional radio blackouts every few weeks (which can still be disruptive) or a devastating solar superstorm that would cause satellites to fall out of orbit and electrical grids to fail.