Russian Scientist Says ISS Crew Can Quickly Return To Earth In Event Of Strong Solar Storm

The crew of the International Space Station can be quickly returned to Earth if their safety becomes compromised because of powerful solar storms, the deputy director for research at the Russian Institute of Applied Geophysics named after Academician E. K. Fedorov, told Sputnik on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2019) The crew of the International Space Station can be quickly returned to Earth if their safety becomes compromised because of powerful solar storms, the deputy director for research at the Russian Institute of Applied Geophysics named after Academician E. K. Fedorov, told Sputnik on Friday.

The institute is one of the leading organizations in Russia that provides information on the state of space weather.

"In cases of space weather's high activity, the Mission Control Center prepares the [International Space Station] astronauts' descent to Earth 24 hours in advance," Vladimir Minligareev said.

He added that in cases where the heliogeophysical situation was moderately perturbed, astronauts were forbidden from going into open space.

If necessary, they could go into the Soyuz spacecraft's descent vehicle, which is equipped to provide maximum protection from solar radiation.

Minligareev also lamented the fact that Russia currently had to rely on foreign satellites for this data and called for more Russian satellites to be sent into orbit he said 14 would be enough to provide the necessary information.

Solar storms are strong emissions of charged particles from the Sun that hit the earth's magnetic field, disrupting the work of electronic devices.